Knowledge and attitude of blood donation among female medical students in Faisalabad.

Objective: To assess the knowledge, practices and attitude of medical students towards blood donation.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan, from April to August 2016, and comprised female medical students. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed. A structured questionnaire was included as data-collection tool. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 20.

Results: Of the 500 students, 469(93.8%) responded to the questionnaire. Of them, 419(89.3%) females had never donated blood and only 2(0.4%) were regular voluntary donors. The best source from which the participants heard about blood donation was friends 259(55.2%). When coming to reasons for not donating blood, there was significant association of many factors like fear (p <0.001), the collection facility being far from the place (p <0.001), not having enough time to donate (p <0.001). Of the 50(10.7%) respondents who had ever donated blood, 48(96%) said the main motivator was saving lives of the people.

Conclusions: Female medical students were aware of the basic knowledge about blood donation.