In this episode, Amanda Hess returns to talk about some obstacles that may prevent people from donating blood.

Amanda Hess: There are misconceptions. The most common barriers that we hear from people who are considering voluntary blood donations are fear of needles and time. Those consistently are the two biggest barriers for people to give.

Typically, how we try to combat that is to explain that blood donation is a quicker, simpler procedure than you might think. A donor is with us for about an hour, but only about 15 minutes or less is spent during the actual donation process. The rest is answering questions, getting your blood pressure taken, and refreshing afterwards. We often hear from people who’ve tried it for the first time that it was far easier and quicker than they ever imagined.

And the feeling they have at the end—that they directly helped save someone’s life; maybe multiple patients because we get multiple components off of every donation—far outweighs the time they spent or their fear of needles. We just try to explain the process to people and give them a little more detail. Sometimes that can help.

On the part of time and fear of needles, there is one development worth mentioning. As donation centers, we’re focused on the donor experience. Now, many blood centers are providing the ability for donors to complete their medical history questionnaire in the comfort of their own home or workplace before they come in to donate, which saves them time. We are looking at the donor experience to try to help overcome some of those barriers.

Blood donation and transfusion are very safe, and that is one thing that our industry has worked hard to ensure: the quality and safety of the blood products, as well as the safety of the donor and the donation process. So it is an incredibly safe thing, to give blood, and it is incredibly safe to receive blood. There are very strict standard operating procedures and FDA guidance to ensure strong and accurate testing for each blood product. We have a wellness screening that every donor goes through every single time, so it is definitely a safe product both for the donor and the patient. Safety is certainly something we always like to address with people.

Sixty percent of the adult population is eligible to give, but only 3% to 5% actually do. The biggest misconception is that people think that the blood will be there when they need it, but the reality is we must have volunteers to donate in advance of that need. Many people think someone else will step up and do it. I hear oftentimes, “Oh, I’ll donate if it’s needed.” And the reality is that would be too late, because the blood has to be donated, tested, and processed.

It takes a 24 to 48-hour period after the donation for it to be ready and available to patients at a hospital or in an ambulance. It is the donations that occur in the days and weeks in advance that save lives. I always like to share that with people as far as misconceptions go. And truly, of the 3% to 5% of the population that gives, about 70% only give once or twice a year. Blood products have a short shelf life. Red blood cells are 42 days. Platelets have to be transfused within seven days. And we do have issues with surge capacity in the blood supply, and elasticity.

It is especially challenging during the summer and winter holiday weeks. Donations drop by 20% to 25%, but the patient need and the transfusions occur every day, regardless of a holiday. We tend to see increases in massive transfusion protocols during these times. In fact, some of the physicians at our hospitals call summer “trauma season.” It’s a real thing, and that is a big challenge. That’s one of our biggest challenges that we face now, and I think we’ll continue to face it into the future.

We do have a host of other misconceptions. A lot of donors think that they’re not eligible when, in fact, they are. This is something doctors can probably help us with. If people have questions about eligibility, oftentimes, blood centers will have eligibility information on our websites. We have people on staff seven days a week that can answer eligibility questions.

We screen for hemoglobin in advance of every donation, and many people believe if they have a low screening result that they’re anemic. It is not a diagnostic test for iron deficiency. Our level is set above and beyond anything a doctor would diagnose as anemia, and hemoglobin levels can fluctuate daily, so those people are eligible to come back pretty quickly, a few days after they attempt to give. That is a big misconception. About 10% of those who attempt to give are going to be deferred for low screening on hemoglobin. It’s a big percentage and something we’re focused on trying to get the word out about.

A lot of people who have certain medical conditions or are on medicine think they can’t give. If they have diabetes or take blood pressure medicines, they may think they’re not eligible. The reality is most folks who have controlled diabetes or are on blood pressure medications are eligible to give. We hope that folks will not rule themselves out.

We’re concerned with the aging population and not having that next generation of volunteer donors to take their place, as the average age of our blood donors across the country is over the age of 50, and we’re not seeing an adequate increase in donations among younger people.

Some physician specialties may appreciate this as well: there are hereditary blood disorders that need regular transfusions, and for many of those people, we have to find donors with rare blood types or extended phenotypes to match so the patient doesn’t have a transfusion reaction. That typically comes from a volunteer donor who has a similar hereditary background as the patient. We do not have an adequately diverse donor base to match the diversity of our patient population. It’s definitely an area of focus.

Thanks for listening. Stay tuned for next week’s episode. To hear more, follow PeerPOV: The Pulse on Medicine on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music.

This transcript has been edited for readability.