Healthcare Journal of baton rouge
I
SEPT / OCT 2015
15
donate the blood providers need for their
patients every day. With only about 5 per-
cent of the U.S. population donating blood
each year, that puts blood centers in a tight
supply situation.
One challenge that has been somewhat
lifted for blood centers, however, is the
restrictions once placed upon donors. The
questionnaire for donations is longer nowa-
days, but the regulations for donors are actu-
ally more lax in some areas. This includes
the deferral period for travel to some coun-
tries or for people with tattoos or piercings,
depending on certain factors set by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
This enables more people to be donors
right away rather than being deferred. More
patients with cardiac disease or diabetes are
able to donate now as well.
Low Time Supply, Low Blood Supply
One of the major constraints for the blood
supply is the amount of time it takes to
donate. The questionnaire necessary for
each person to answer before donating now
contains nearly 50 questions, which is much
more than in the past. These questions pro-
tect the safety of the blood supply as well as
the health of the patient, but they do take
more time to answer.
“Our business culture has changed, and a
lot of businesses are doingmore with less, so
everyone is really busy,” said Mitzi Breaux,
marketing and communications manager
of United Blood Services. “Everyone seems
to be very stressed lately, so taking that time
out of their day to donate blood sometimes
just doesn’t become a priority anymore. We
have seen that shift.”
A typical blood donation can last any-
where from 30 minutes to 45 minutes, or
even upwards to an hour in some cases.
The actual blood donation from needle-in
to needle-out is about 10 to 12 minutes, but
the registration and medical history ques-
tionnaire, in addition to a mini physical to
test a donor’s vitals, comprise the rest of the
time it takes to donate blood.
Some blood centers have devised ways to
shorten the duration of time for each dona-
tion. United Blood Services offers a Donor
Health History Questionnaire online which
donors can fill out at home or in the office
before donating to bypass part of the pro-
cess. Donors do have to complete the ques-
tionnaire the day they donate, as required
by the FDA.
Some centers also host special events
that extend their office hours for accepting
donations to enable more donors to fit in
the donation around their work and home
responsibilities.
Despite the time it takes, centers
With only about 5 percent
of the U.S. population
donating blood each year,
that puts blood centers in
a tight supply situation.
5%
1820
1830
1863
Vinegar
Lord Byron waxes
poetic about the cleansing and
weight loss powers of mixing
water with apple cider vinegar.
Crackers
A high-fiber diet of vegetables
and abstinence from sex are the key
ingredients in a diet plan touted by Sylvester
Graham, the eventual creator of Graham
crackers. Hmmm.
Banting
In what may well have been the first
attempt at a low carb diet, Englishman William Banting
loses 50 pounds simply by cutting out bread, butter,
milk, and potatoes and eating more meat. For a while,
“banting” actually becomes slang for dieting.
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