Question

A donor experiences syncope while donating a unit of whole blood. How should the blood bank personnel treat the donor's condition? Is the donor eligible for future donations? why or why not?

Answer 1

Syncope during blood donation is a fairly common and does not necessarily mean the donor has a pre existing condition. These episodes are known as vasovagal episode and a lot of factors could be responsible for such an episode to be triggered

Some of the common reasons would be,

• Fear and Anxiety
• Venipuncture site causing pain
• Standing for way too long before blood donation. Here the blood pools in the lower extremities of our body due to gravity, dilation of blood vessels further aggrevate this problem. The end result being, our brain does not get enough blood there by leading to syncope. In such situations, the donor is advised to take a seat if they have been standing or aren't already sitting. Some doctors recommend wearing tight leggings which would avoid the pooling of blood.
• Anxiety or a tense patient in the blood donation camp, could also trigger a similar response in a patient seeing him/her.
• Coming empty stomach for blood donation, leading to hypogycemia which could result in a syncope.
• Make sure the donor had a good night sleep

Interventions blood bank personnel can take to treat the donors condition

• Very often, the episode of syncope could be a result of fear and anxiety, especially in yound donors donating blood for the first time. They need to be sensitized to the entire process in order to avoid such episodes and increase the return rate amoung donors. However, prevention is not always possible and these incidences are bound to occur, for which the following interventions and preventive measures can be followed.
• Most blood banks give a sqweez ball to their donors to keep the blood pumping and avoid hypotension and bradycardia.
• Elevate the legs to make sure the blood reaches the brain and also the pooling of blood reduces
• Most often, syncope occurs while the patient is lying down, in such cases the nurse should immediately remove the needle as the patient could get convulsive, and a needle still stuck to his/her arms could result in injuries.
• More often than not, an oxygen intervention would not be required and the patient would revive on their own, but such preventive measures should be available on site.
• The vitals should be observed.
• If the donor has sustained injuries due to syncope, the injuries should be addressed appropriately, either on site in case of minor injuries or in emergency rooms offsite in case of head injuries.

Is the donor eligible for future donations?

Yes, if the episode occured merely as a physiological response of the body to fear, prolonged standing, the patient is eligible to donate blood in the future, provided he or she is willing to do so, for which proper education of the donor is necessary. If they aren't educated about the episode, they might have a lasting impression which would prevent them from donating blood in the future.

If the episode of syncope was due to a pathological condition which the donor was unaware of, the condition should be evaluated by the general physician regarding the severity of the condition and their eligibility to donate in the future.