e18032 Background: It has been well-documented that there is a severe lack of participants enrolled in the National Bone Marrow Donor registry. Even those who are registered often decline to donate at a critical juncture in the donation process due to a wide variety of misconceptions. Health care professionals should be among the most educated about the bone marrow donation process as they will often be giving advice to potential donors. Methods: We conducted an anonymous online survey of medical students, residents, fellows, and attending physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center to determine the common misconceptions surrounding bone marrow donation. Results: There were a total of 187 participants (73% medical students, 23% residents/fellows, 4% attending physicians). Fifty-one percent were already bone marrow donors, while 49% were not. Forty percent of respondents believe bone marrow biopsy is necessary for donation and 10% believe CT scans are done prior to donation. Twenty-eight percent responded that bone marrow is extracted under general anesthesia, 43% responded that it is extracted not under general anesthesia, 5% responded that it is extracted via central intravenous line, and 24% responded that it is extracted via peripheral intravenous line. Thirty percent responded that they are not bone marrow donors because bone marrow donation is painful, 12% because it involves surgery, 2% because it weakens the donor, 13% because it involves a lengthy recovery process, 3% because donors have to pay for donation, 1% because of ethnic/religious/cultural beliefs, while 39% have not had the opportunity to donate but would or are planning on it. Conclusions: The majority of allogeneic transplants are performed with peripherally collected bone marrow stem cells, however, most potential donors including health care professionals do not know this. We conclude that a great deal of education surrounding bone marrow donation is still needed among healthcare workers today. Educating health care workers is of the utmost importance as they will impart this knowledge to those considering donation. Future aims of this project are to develop an educational curriculum to address the most common misconceptions, particularly in medical students, as they are in the age group most targeted in bone marrow donation and they will be the future generation of physicians to educate patients on the process.
Collection of autologous blood for bone marrow donation: how useful is it?
