Abstract

Background: Blood donation is the most important step in saving lives. Health services should be provided with sufficient blood to meet needs. Voluntary blood donors who are in good health are the most effective blood sourcing to ensure a safe and sufficient blood supply. Our aim in this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice toward blood donation among medical students in Ibn Sina National College (ISNC), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted distributing questionnaires among medical students in ISNC during the period from March to April 2020. A total of 315 participants were randomly recruited. A validated questionnaire and self-administrated collected data. Data were entered using Microsoft office excel 2010 and the analysis done by Statistical Package for Social Science.
Result: Among the 315 study subjects, 77.5% were females and 22.5% males, the mean age was 23.69 SD ± 3.63. Most of our participants were from the sixth year (35.9%), and 94.9% of the study subjects knew their blood group. Regarding the knowledge level about blood donation, 57.1% (180) had poor knowledge and 47.9% (151) had a positive attitude. Among the study subjects, 29.5% have donated blood before.
Conclusion: The present study found the participants’ knowledge level and attitude regarding blood donation to be poor. As only one-third of our participants donated blood, we recommend increasing awareness through campaigns, educational lectures, and conferences for medical students.

Key words: Blood donation, medical student, blood emergency