Screening of Psychiatric Disorders : A Step Forward Towards Safe Blood Donation

Abstract

Background: Multiple safety measures for screening blood donors are undertaken to make blood transfusion safe for the patients. Screening for severe psychiatric disorders may be a step forward toward the practice of safe blood donation. This study was undertaken for screening for psychiatric disorders by administering a brief psychiatric interview on all the donors. Those with a positive answer were explored by the MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination) and finally referred to the psychiatry department for further evaluation and definitive diagnosis.

Objective: To study the effectiveness of administering a brief psychiatric interview in strengthening the overall donor selection process.

Method: All those who participated in a blood donation camp from October 1, 2015 to October 10, 2015, at AN Magadh Medical College & Hospital, Gaya, Bihar, India were taken into study. The brief psychiatric interview and MMSE were administered to all of them. The results were analyzed statistically.

Results: The donors were predominantly males (95.28%). Most of the donors (51.97%) were in the age group of 25-44 years. Young donors of age 18-24 years represented only 27.56%. There were two (1.57%) donors with a positive answer on the brief psychiatric interview. Furthermore, both of them showed mild cognitive impairment on the MMSE scale. According to MMSE subscales attention, registration, and recall were the most impaired cognitive areas.

Post-donation advice and care were provided to all the successful donors, and the deferred donors were documented, counselled and referred for further management.

Keywords: Brief psychiatric interview, Mini-mental state examination, blood donation, deferral