KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE ABOUT BLOOD DONATION AND ITS SUBTYPE (AUTOLOGOUS BLOOD DONATION) AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS IN KSA

Introduction: Blood donation and transfusion are remarkably lifesaving medical procedures. Autologous Blood donation which is called also self-donation is the collection and re-infusion of the patient's own Blood or Blood components. It should be transfusion therapy of choice, or at least, fully and carefully considered. Objectives: to assess knowledge about blood donation and knowledge and attitude about autologous blood transfusion among medical students in different collages in KSA. Material and Methods: period of study from 7 -1-1434 to 28-1-1434. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 161 Medical Students, randomly selected from all years in different medical collages in KSA (UT, KSU, KKU and others universities). a web based self-administrated, structured English questionnaire was used to test knowledge and attitude of medical students about blood donation and its subtype(autologous blood donation). The collected Data were entered and analyzed using Google document. Results: adequate knowledge about blood donation is only present in (68.0%) of students who gave right answers about the blood vessels used for blood donation and the harmful effect of blood donation as a procedure and for donor (84%), (80%) respectively. Regarding autologous blood donation, 55% of students doesn't hear about it, 74% doesn't Know its subtypes, 63% don't know about its benefit, 58% of students don't know that it is the safest way for donation of blood, 53% of students refuse undergo an autologous and 74% of students will not encouraged others to use this method. Recommendation: increasing awareness of the community as a whole and medical student in special about blood donation and its sub type (autologous blood transfusion).