Donor recruitment in the 21st century: Challenges and lessons learned in the first decade

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Abstract

The first decade of the millennium has seen a fundamental shift in global sufficiency. In many developing countries the major challenge remains the need to collect sufficient, safe blood from volunteer non-remunerated blood donors to support developing health care needs. However, in the developed world the current challenges faced by blood services are more complex and constantly changing. This article will explore the impact of these challenges and consider the implications for blood services in the next decade in donor management and recruitment.

The authors discuss the major strategic challenges of:

  • maintaining an adequate donor base with the correct blood group mix;

  • intelligent inventory control;

  • improving efficiency in the face of the current global economic climate;

  • redesigning the donor experience;

    The paper discusses donor recruitment and retention strategies and provides case studies from the SNBTS marketing strategy. The paper discusses options to rethink the traditional supply and demand models.

    In conclusion, consider the potential challenges and opportunities of the next decade, considering:

  • demographic changes and influences;

  • impact of new technologies;

  • demand trends;

  • donor expectation;

Introduction

Since the formation of blood services across the world the recruitment mantra has remained a variation of the ‘Give Blood –Save Lives’ with the underpinning implication that there is a constant urgent need for blood and that there is never enough. However, the first decade of the new millennium, has seen a rapid change to this accepted wisdom and a fundamental shift in global sufficiency.

In many developing countries the major challenge remains the need to collect sufficient, safe blood from volunteer non-remunerated blood donors to support developing health care needs. However, in the developed world the current challenges faced by blood services are more complex and constantly changing. Managing excess and variable inventory has become more of an issue and this has far reaching implications for blood services in developing donor relationship strategies requiring changes in operational practice and the development of new approaches.

The fundamental shift from the key message of the constant urgent need for all donations from all donors will require both cultural and organisational change if we are to internalise the implications and future proof our services and survive the next decade in good shape.

This article will explore the impact of these challenges and consider the implications for blood services in the next decade.

Section snippets

Current challenges

In preparation for this article, the authors asked colleagues in the other UK Blood Services, the Canadian and New Zealand Blood Services and the Australian Red Cross to consider the challenges facing their organisations and to consider the impact and possible solutions. In addition, we have drawn on discussions in the findings of the DOMAINE Project

Maintaining an adequate donor base

In the recent ‘Hot Topics’ Discussion Forum with the ADRP Board, the topic of Donor Base Shrinkage was one of the most frequently mentioned. The underlying reasons include:

  • Hostile demographics, with the ageing population profile in many developed countries resulting in fewer young donors to recruit relative to demand. In the longer term this becomes a major threat as today’s blood donors become tomorrow’s patients with the resultant increase in demand for blood given that the need for blood

Achieving balanced inventory control

Blood services worldwide have traditionally struggled to maintain sufficient inventory and would have potentially viewed excess inventory as a luxury to be desired. However, increasingly blood services face the challenge to avoid excess stock build up of some blood groups due to differences between the population blood group profile and demand patterns.

The reasons for this may vary but include:

  • Impact of economic change and health service efficiency targets resulting in reduction in demand.

Impact of the economic crisis

In the USA, the economic downturn had an immediate reduction in demand in some areas of the country alongside increased unemployment and therefore reduced access to health insurance. In addition competition between blood services in the US also contributed to cost pressures and the need to operate more efficiently and effectively. Commercial blood banks now exist in 20% of European counties and that this competition has increased and contributed to cost pressures (DOMAINE Survey: [5])

Redesigning the donor experience

Perhaps the most significant issue relating to donor retention and potentially the most difficult to fully address is that the donor experience provided by blood services is not optimal. The Alliance of Blood Operators (ABO) Donor Loyalty group (www.blooddonorloyalty.org) [1] have pioneered the use of Donor Satisfaction tools and many services worldwide utilise the ‘Topbox’ questionnaire to assess customer satisfaction. This is increasingly used as a benchmark for blood services. The DOMAINE

Donor recruitment and retention strategies

Transfusion services around the world have traditionally relied upon effective marketing communication strategies to recruit and retain blood donors (see Fig. 5). Traditionally blood services are medically, scientifically and technically led and, while this may be a generalisation and controversial, in this type of environment donor services, recruitment and marketing functions have been viewed as less technical and ephemeral. This can lead to funding in these areas being viewed as easy targets

e-Communications

The use of text messaging and e-mail offers significant opportunity for more effective and timely interaction with blood donors. Additionally they offer significant reductions in cost to the blood service. In the Republic of Ireland, the IBTS have made extensive use of text messaging as reminder to donate, to thank those who have donated and to continually build the relationship with the blood donor. This has proven, both highly effective and cost effective. Additionally, several companies now

The next decade

The impact of the global economic crisis is likely to persist throughout the decade and drive the need for productivity and cost reduction. It is clear that we need a different approach to matching donor expectations and patients’ needs, while delivering a balanced and sufficient inventory.

The need to balance inventory will require a different relationship with blood donors and we need to consider the implications for donor recognition strategies by considering donation type, timing and blood

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the following for their input and assistance in the preparation of this article: The Association of Donor Recruitment Professionals Board of Directors (www.adrp.org); Patrick Bowler, IBTS; Charles Kinney, NIBTS, UK; Crispin Wickenden, NHSBT, UK, Alyson Pearce, Australian Red Cross; Les Bartlett, WBS, UK: Paula Roberts, UBS, USA; John Armitage Oklahoma Blood Institute, USA; David Fisher, SNBTS; Safia Qureshi, SNBTS; Hagop Bessos, SNBTS.

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