Slide Reference :
Elflein, J. (2021). Blood donation in the U.S. – statistics & facts. Statista. Retrieved March 22, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/topics/7512/blood-donation-in-the-us/#topicHeader__wrapper.
Script :
American healthcare. Is it always a justified system? Has it ever been a just system? These are the questions that must be asked in any aspect of healthcare, and when it comes to analyzing who exactly is donating blood in America, like many other causes, people of color and minorities tend to have significantly smaller contributions to the overall topic. In this case, minorities tend to have fewer blood donors, both first time and repeat, when compared to the amount of caucasian donors. Majority of this infomation was taken from studies that occurred in the United States but not North Carolina specifically, so this work is mainly being condensed to apply to North Carolina.
The question to be answered was: why exactly do minorities tend to have lower participation in blood donations in the United States, and what factors influence this participation? This search began by looking into why there are people who donate blood solely to supplement their income (as some blood banks provide incentives such as meals and small stipends). The search was then expanded to include other factors and revealed that the issue of minorities and their views and treatment in healthcare can easily align with their treatment in many other systems in the country. As minorities tend to be discriminated against in certain settings, the healthcare system is no exception, and some of the larger factors that influence the lack of diversity in blood donors include socioeconomic status, medical fear, and a lack of education in why their contributions are important (Boulware, et al, 2002).
Medical fear can be influenced by previous histories of negative treatments in other fields, and education and socioeconomic status can be related to this issue based on opportunities and resources where people of color tend to be disadvantaged. While blood shortages are not specifically caused by a lack of minority contribution, one overlying issue that can occur due to the lack of diversity in blood supplies is that type matching and tissue matching can lack different blood types that can be used in life saving transfusions (Makin et al, 2019). For instance, some conditions, such as sickle cell disease, thalassemia and leukemia, tend to occur more in minorities. With this, specific blood types tend to be more common across similar ethnic and racial backgrounds (Frye et al, 2014). This means that an adequate supply of “like” blood would provide greater opportunities to provide treatments to these diseases that are more likely to affect certain races.
Some possible solutions that have been suggested to combat the issue of the lack of diverstity in blood donors are implementing educational outreach programs, and targeting minorities and first time donors specifically within these programs to inform them of the importance of their donations. Some studies have shown that educating populations on the impact they can have by becoming repeat donors does have a positive effect on increasing minority participation in blood donation, and this can also aid in diversifying communities and reducing medical fears (Frye, et al, 2014).
Explication of Research :
In the American healthcare system, a large blood supply is essential to ensure that different surgical procedures and transfusions can be carried out safely and in an efficient manner. Over the past few years, in the US, and across the world, there has been an increased medical fear that there will be blood shortages that will endanger those who suffer from health crises that require blood transfusions. One major issue that can contribute to these shortages is the lack of minority representation in the amount of blood donors. This is a problem that requires a solution because it can be detrimental for blood supplies to come from an invariable donor population. This issue must be resolved because minorities tend to have certain blood types that can impact life changing procedures, have a long history of discrimination in the healthcare system that must be stopped, and are fully able to be educated about their significance regarding this issue as efforts to improve the donor pool are undertaken.
A lack of minority representation in the healthcare system is a problem not only because of the social implications, but also because the treatment of certain conditions as well as health matching are often more likely to be affected by a minority population. For instance, minorities tend to be more likely to suffer from conditions such as sickle cell disease, leukemia, and thalassemia. These diseases are ones that require blood transfusions as a main form of treatment. When it comes to tissue and type matching, donors with a similar racial/ethnic background are more likely to match with each other in ways that can make the transfusion process more efficient. Blood matches are especially necessary when it comes to these conditions because each currently has no cure and essentially relies on blood supplies for treatment. By increasing the proportion of minority blood donations, the risk of transfusion complications is lowered and likelihood of type matching is increased (Frye et al, 2014, para 1).
Socially speaking, by incorporating methods to increase the proportion of minority donors, communities can be affected positively and trust can be rebuilt within them if said methods aim to incorporate minorities and diversity as a whole. Along with this, research has shown that some themes that impact blood donation status are: knowing a blood recipient or donor, identifying with a certain culture, race or religion, and medical mistrust and understanding (Spratling & Lawrence, 2019, para 19). With these factors in mind, by instituting efforts meant to increase the diversity and activity of donors, minorities may feel more comfortable in health settings because they have the opportunity to be surrounded by people who they can relate to , which can decrease the amount of mistrust and understanding if they are more open to the practice of donation and understand why their contribution is important. Along with this, “participating in blood donation may facilitate the integration of ethnic/racial minority populations to the country’s healthcare system, thereby contributing to a reduction in health inequities for these populations” (Makin et al, 2019, para 4).
One reason why minorities may be less likely to become first time (FT) donors or to continue being repeat donors (especially in the United States) is because of the history of discrimination that people of color have often faced in the healthcare system, as well as in many other established systems. As people of color consider their health, going out of their way to donate blood is not always a welcomed thought because the mistreatment minorities tend to face extends to several aspects of their lives. With the history of healthcare that follows minorities in the first place, it is not necessarily a far-fetched idea for people to still have fears that have carried on throughout history. This point is also aided by the fact that there have been studies and instances that show that people of color tend to experience a lesser version of healthcare. This can be based on socioeconomic status, education, and other factors. According to one study, “the effect of fear of hospitals was consistent across sex and race” and “women, black participants, and those agreeing with the statement “I am afraid of hospitals” had 60 to 80 percent lower odds of prior donation when compared with men [and] white participants,” (Boulware et al, 2002, para 3). These findings align with the stigma of fear that minorities and people of color tend to face when it comes to healthcare. Other reasons included: “ fear of needles, fainting, or donation process; lack of time; lack of convenience; lack of opportunity; lack of support from family; distrust of the medical care system; and being ineligible” (Frye et al, 2014, para 14)
Studies have also shown that the proportion of first time donors to repeat donors varies between races and sexes, but age plays a big factor in donor status overall. For example, in a study that began in 2006 and collected data every three years it was revealed that donors under twenty years of age were just as likely to be repeat or first timers, while donors in upper age ranges (between fifty to seventy) were more likely to be repeat donors (Yazer, et al, 2017 para 23). Another reason that could affect minority participation in blood donations is their economic status, education level, and religion. While this point does have a lack of academic articles and studies behind it, there has been work done to show some correlation between minorities and the reasons why they might have lower economic statuses, as well as insufficient amounts of education compared to their white counterparts. In some cases, it has been found that variances in these factors can have an impact on the relationship that minorities have with healthcare, and subsequently blood donation.
In a series of studies, some solutions to the lack of minority representation in blood donation included: minority recruitment programs, outreach interventions, and increased educational community efforts to educate the general public about the benefits of blood donation. According to one said study that used a method known as the PreciseMatch Program, an outreach program meant to provide more background information on blood donation to increase minority participation (especially among African American and Latino donors) it was found that providing a greater understanding to these communities did increase minority donors (considering that the goal of this project was to increase donation by 150 units per month) but more research must be done in order to increase donations consistently over time (Frye et al, 2014, para 3).
Another solution would be to target younger individuals and encourage them to become repeat donors because “recent efforts to expand the donor pool by recruiting younger donors have resulted in higher numbers of initial donations” (Yazer, et al, 2017 para 20). Because older populations are less likely to become first time and repeat donors, targeting a younger audience and educating them on the importance of their future contributions would be the purpose of these outreach and recruitment programs. One factor that could serve as a point of encouragement could be centering these programs around the idea that being more involved in healthcare (becoming and maintaining donor status) could serve as a means to improve and monitor one’s health. This would be because when it comes to health safety, “repeat donors are less likely to be deferred for poor health and to transmit infections [and are also] less likely to experience adverse events during donation” (Yazer, et al, 2017 para 23).
The information and research obtained from these studies occurred throughout the United States, and can be related to the state of North Carolina by applying knowledge about the discrimination minorities tend to face (especially in the South) to blood donation and other medical statistics throughout the state.
References :
Boulware, L.E., Ratner, L.E., Ness, P.M., Cooper, L.A., Campbell-Lee, S., LaVeist, T.A., Powe, N.R. (2002). The contribution of sociodemographic, medical, and attitudinal factors to blood donation among the general public. Transfusion, 42(6), 669-678. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1537-2995.2002.00120.x.
Frye V, Caltabiano M, Kessler D.A., Schlaffer H. Reboza M, Hillyer C.D., Shaz, B.H. (2014). Evaluating a program to increase blood donation among racial and ethnic minority communities in New York City. Transfusion, 54(12), 3061-3067. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/trf.12767.
Makin, J.K, Francis, K.L, Polonsky, M.J, M. Andre, N. Renzaho. (2019). Interventions to increase blood donation among ethnic/racial minorities: a systematic review. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 19, 1-14.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2019/6810959/.
Spratling, R., Lawrence R.H. (2019). Facilitators and barriers to minority [PB2] blood donations: a systematic review. Nursing Research, 68(3), 218-226. https://oce.ovid.com/article/00006199-201905000-00006/HTML.
Yazer, M.H.,Vassallo R, Delaney M, Germain M, Karafin, M.S., Watering, L, Shaz, B.H. (2017). Trends in age and red blood cell donation habits among several racial/ethnic minority groups in the United States. Transfusion, 57(7), 1644-1655. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/trf.14108.
Featured Image Source :
Mangine, D. (2018). The importance of blood donation. SimTalk Blog. Retrieved March 22, 2022, from https://simtalkblog.com/2018/01/18/importance-blood-donation/.