About Directed Donations
Prior to choosing this program, patient and donors should be
aware that in the expressed opinion of the scientific community
there is no evidence to indicate that this method of selecting
donors is any safer or better than standard blood banking practices
of volunteer blood collections. In fact, donation under
pressure may lead to decreased safety of these units if important
health history facts are suppressed.
- All prospective donors must meet established donor eligibility
requirements including those set forth by state and federal
governments and the American Association of Blood Banks.
- Florida's Blood Centers (FBC) uses its best effort to assure
donor testing confidentiality on all donations. It must be
understood that the very nature of directed donations may
compromise donor confidentiality.
- Because the directed donation program is a special service,
coordination by the patient or a representative is requested before
collection(s). There may be additional charges specific to the
directed donation program payable prior to donation. These fees are
non-refundable even if units are unsuitable or incompatible.
Hospitals may charge additional fees as well.
- Requests for directed donations shipped outside of FBC's
consignment area will be handled on an individual basis and are
subject to the collecting and receiving facility guidelines.
Prepayment of fees will be required at time of collection.
Participation in Program
- Patients or patient's representative should contact a FBC
donor/patient information specialist (DPIS) for donation
appointments.
- Directed donations will be accepted at all FBC branches during
normal business hours. Each donor must identify themselves as a
directed donor.
- Directed donations should be collected 1-2 weeks prior to
anticipated need. Requests outside of these guidelines may incur
additional charges. Additionally, availability cannot be
guaranteed. Units will be tagged with patient information and sent
to the designated hospital.
- Only liquid red blood cells are routinely provided. Special
requests may require written notification from the patients
physician and/or additional charges.
- It is recommended that the patient or representative contact a
DPIS prior to the transfusion date to determine available
units.
Special Considerations
- The husband or male partner of a female of childbearing age
should not be a directed donor for her. Such donations have the
potential of causing harm to future offspring with subsequent
medical problems
- Directed donations from blood relatives of the patient may
cause a potentially fatal disease called 'Transfusion Associated
Graft vs. Host'. This risk can be virtually eliminated by a special
process to these units called 'irradiation'. FBC must be informed
of the relationship of donors to patients so that units can be
properly labeled and processed. The irradiation process incurs
additional charges and reduces the storage period for the red blood
cells.
Unavailable Units
- Directed donations cannot be used for emergency or urgent blood
needs due to time constraints of processing and shipping. No units
will be released to hospitals until all testing is complete.
- A reactive test will render the unit unsuitable for transfusion
and will be discarded. Donors will be notified by mail in the event
their blood unit is determined unsuitable due to testing.
- Compatibility testing is determined by the transfusing
hospital. Once there, units may be determined incompatible. FBC
will do no pretesting. Blood typing will be performed on request
only for donor/patients 17 years and older and is associated with
additional charges.
- On occasion, blood collected and prepared for transfusion
cannot be used due to breakage or other unforeseen problems.
Neither FBC nor the hospital can guarantee that directed donations
will be suitable, available or sufficient quantity to meet the
needs of the designated recipient.
- In the unlikely event of a life threatening need and compatible
blood is not available from inventory, directed donations may be
used for patients other than to whom they were directed. In such an
event, all special handling fees will be refunded.
Unused Units
Incompatible directed donations will be released to the general
inventory for use by other patients.
Suitable units held at FBC will be released to inventory five
days after the anticipated date of need unless prior notification
is received to hold the unit(s) from the patient’s physician. Units
may be held a maximum of 30 days from date of collection.
Blood units stored at hospitals fall under the responsibility of
that hospital.
FBC accepts responsibility for collection, processing, storing
and routing transportation of directed donations to the transfusing
hospital designated by the patient or representative. Once released
to the hospital, units will then be subject to their policies.
FBC reserves the right to revise directed donations procedures
at any time. For further information contact a DPIS at the main
branch (407) 248-5014.
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