Blood Donation and Associated Factors Among Employees Working at Negele Arsi General Hospital and Medical College, Southeast Ethiopia: A Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Blood is a specialized body fluid in humans. Securing voluntary, nonpaid blood donation is an important national goal to prevent blood shortages. The donated blood plays a big role during surgery, accidents, delivery, bleeding cases, and the like. Currently, in many developing and developed countries, the blood supply is critically insufficient. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the practice of blood donation and associated factors among employees (clinical and nonclinical) at Negele Arsi General Hospital and Medical College. METHODS: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from August 1 to 20, 2020. Self-administered and interview-administered questionnaires were used to collect the data. A stratified sampling method was employed to select 122 participants. Data were entered into EpiData 3.1 software and the analysis was done using SPSS version 25. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analysis with 95%CI was carried out. RESULTS: Among 122 employees who participated in the study, 39% have ever donated blood. Clinical staff were eight times more likely to donate blood compared to nonclinical staff (AOR=7.81, 95%CI: 2.15–28.39). Those who had one to five years work experience were 85% (AOR=0.15, 95% CI:0.03-0.74) less likely to donate blood compared to > 11 years of work experience.Those with inadequate knowledge were 71.0% (AOR=0.29, 95%CI: 0.09–0.89) less likely to donate blood compared to those with adequate knowledge. Those with an unfavorable attitude were 68.0% (AOR=0.32, 95%CI: 0.11–0.92) less likely to donate blood compared to those with a favorable attitude. CONCLUSION: Generally, blood donation practice was low in the study area. The professional category, work experience, knowledge, and attitude were significantly associated with the practice of blood donation. Therefore, a blood donation campaign should be prepared to strengthen the practice.