Assessment of Knowledge and Practices of Voluntary Blood Donation Among Pharmacy Students; A Cross-Sectional Survey from Lahore, Pakistan

Objective: To determine the current knowledge and practices regarding voluntary blood donation among pharmacy (Pharm-D) students of Lahore, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative survey was performed among Pharm-D students of two private and two public sector universities of Lahore, Pakistan in January 2018. Total 600 students were included in the study by convenient sampling technique. Data was gathered by a self-administered well-designed questionnaire and was analyzed by using SPSS version 23. Results: The level of knowledge among majority respondents (61.3%) about different aspects of blood donation was found to be good. The results revealed that despite having good knowledge, a significant number of the respondents (65.2%) were not practicing blood donation. The major reasons identified for poor blood donation practice were inconvenient environment and lack of facilities for the donors. Conclusion: There exists a gap in converting the good knowledge of respondents into practice of voluntary blood donation. Effective programs should be initiated to promote and aware people regarding the necessity of blood donation.