Donor notification and impact of counselling of reactive blood donors in the blood centre of a tertiary care teaching hospital of Odisha in eastern India

To ensure blood safety in blood transfusion service, the practice of donor screening, donor notification and counselling is essential. The aim of the study was to analyse the response rate of notified reactive donors to counselling and to see the impact of donor notification on reactive donors. A observational descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the blood centre of department of Transfusion Medicine, MKCG Medical College and Hospital Berhampur, Odisha during the time period from January 2022 to December 2022. Data was collected from reactive blood donor counselling register. Sero-reactive donors were contacted telephonically. Those who turned up into blood centre were counselled again and referred to appropriate centre for further management. The statistical analysis was done using percentages based on descriptive analysis.Out of total 32700 donations over a period of one year, 726 (2.22%) were reactive donors. Out of the total 726 donors, 496 (68.31%) donors could be notified telephonically, rest 230 could not be notified due to several reasons. Out of 496, 352(48.48%) were responders, who were counselled and referred to higher centres for further management. The response rate was 48.48%. Only 24 sero-reactive donors could be followed up. Pre-donation counselling, appropriate TTI screening test, donor notification and post donation counselling all together form a vital link between blood donors and blood safety, however the gap still exists.