Abstract

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Graduating Health Science Students towards Blood Donation at Wolaita Soddo University

Obsa MS, Weji BG, Dedecho AT and Worji TA

Background: Adequate quantity of blood is considered necessary to receive adequate oxygen and nutrients and to carry out certain function. A huge volume of blood can be lost as a result of various medical, obstetrics or surgical emergency. The aim of this study was assess knowledge, attitude and practice of graduating health science students towards blood donation at Wolaita Soddo University from October 2 to 10, 2017. Methods and Materials: Cross sectional study design was conducted. All selected graduating health science students were included. Regular supervision and follow up was made. Data was entered into Epi info version 7 and was transported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to determine magnitude of knowledge, attitude and practice towards blood donation. Result: A total of 96 graduating health science students were included. Most of the participants were male. The overall knowledge on blood donation among respondents was 75.26%.Highest percentage of study participants agree that blood donation cannot affect health of donors. It was also found there were poor practices of blood donation. Conclusion and Recommendation: In this study, there were high knowledge and attitude towards blood donation. However, there was a poor practice of donating blood. Therefore, it is very important to promote blood donation practices.