Blood donation knowledge and attitudes among undergraduate health science students: A cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT

Awareness towards blood donation can be empowered by health professionals' role-modelling. We aimed to assess knowledge and attitudes among Greek undergraduate medical laboratory students. A questionnaire was distributed to 330 students (response rate 88.7%). Overall, 24% had donated blood at least once, with males 4.62 times more likely to be donors. Voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors were more likely to be repeaters. A quarter of all students were inclined to offer blood for monetary reward, with men more prone to accept payment. There is a need to campaign health science students during formal education through need-based as well as altruistic 'smart' messages.