It is said that if you stop learning, you stop creating history and become history. At Sankalp a practice of striving to improve continuously is imbibed in all volunteers. Hence training and knowledge sharing sessions form an important aspect of projects.
In the last 2 financial years, Sankalp has organized 300+ blood donation drives. In this financial year more than 70 have been organized in 4 months’ time. We have blood bank teams from 7 institutions coming in for drives, close to 200 staff including technicians, doctors, volunteers manage the show. It is a challenge to maintain consistency in delivery in each and every event, especially with so many members as part of the team. The only way out is to come together and keep learning the essentials.
Hence a training program on “Procedures and Practices in Voluntary Blood Donation Drives” was organized on the 27th of July 2015 at Bangalore Medical College. Teams from Victoria and Bowring Hospital – the 2 hospitals under BMC that have blood banks were part of the training program. More than 30 students who will be a part of blood donation drives in the future also attended the training. In total there were 55 attendees. Dr Sundar P from, Professor, Transfusion Medicine from NIMHANS was present as a guest trainer.
The training started off by giving an overview of the way Sankalp Rakta Kranti unit works, the roles and responsibilities taken up by the team in organizing blood donation drives and expectations from blood banks to deliver what is promised. Senior Sankalp volunteers stressed on the need for maintaining professionalism in blood donation drives by working on all areas of compliance as laid down in standards set forth by NACO or DCI. Emphasis was also laid on having a professional attitude and maintaining time, hygiene in the drive.
Crucial time was also spent on upgrading the soft skills of team members. It has been proved beyond doubt by various studies all over the world that if a blood donor has a pleasant experience he/she is very likely to come back to donate again and again in successive drives. This helps in converting the donor to a regular voluntary blood donor for life and also retaining the confidence and trust of organizers to give us an opportunity to conduct a drive in their premises. Instances of how poor treatment has had bad consequences were put forward.
Modules relevant to the role of an individual was also a part of the program. Sankalp has drafted together a protocol on assessing donor suitability for donation – something that is crucial in deciding whether a person must be accepted for or deferred from donation. An end to end discussion was held on the same in the presence of Dr Sundar, Dr Sreelatha – HOD Transfusion Medicine, Bangalore Medical College, Dr Dheemanth & Dr Prasanna – Associate Professors at the Transfusion Medicine Department, Dr Zaheer – blood bank medical officer at Bowring Hospital and a few PG graduates. The doctors agreed on using the document as a guideline for selecting/deferring donors in blood donation drives.
While this discussion and debate was on, modules on Hb estimation, pre-donation tests practices, phlebotomy techniques were held for the technical and nursing staff. Materials that included high quality videos, well designed and informative booklets were used. Every aspect of Hb estimation – including need, the right tools and methods, proper way of doing things, maintaining hygiene and sanitation were discussed in detail. The training on phlebotomy techniques covered preparing the site of phlebotomy, selection of vein, maintaining right pressure, the correct method of pricking and handling donors. Jagadish, a senior technician and one with a rich experience of having led teams in more than 200 drives shared some valuable practical tips and techniques. He too emphasized the need for doing things right at phlebotomy with sheer regard to professionalism, careful consideration of the specifics related to the donor. He brought out instances from his rich experience where incorrect treatment meted out to donors has had a negative effect. The reason and need for good pre donation hydration was discussed in detail. The students too asked several questions and jotted down notes throughout the session. The technicians and students were also given a walkthrough of the donor questionnaire form and the importance of each field in the same.
Following a short break, the session convened again with all doctors, technicians and nursing staff to learn about identification and management of complications in blood donation drives. Dr Sundar walked the attendees through the various complications as listed in the complications manual adopted by Sankalp and participating blood banks in November 2013. Every complication, its symptoms, interventions required to manage the donor were discussed. The trainees were also given an overview of emergency drugs, the triggers for their administration. Finally the session touched upon the role each individual needs to play when there are complications and how by better coordination and team work every situation can be well managed.
The trainees were very happy with the half a day program and several students expressed satisfaction and gratitude for having taken them through various practical aspects. “Such programs are useful for both newcomers and experienced staff members. For the newcomers it is an opportunity to get first hand access to valuable information before they attend regular blood donation drives. For the ones who are already part of teams, these sessions help make our basics stronger, enable us to think about the mistakes made and look at corrective measures we need to adopt in blood donation drives. I am happy and glad to have been a part of this” said Jagadish. The entire team of Bangalore Medical College expressed satisfaction on the conduct of the event.
The Rakta Kranti team is hoping that future blood donation drives involving teams from BMC will have greater compliance to standards, have better quality and most importantly give every donor a memorable experience.
Hence a training program on “Procedures and Practices in Voluntary Blood Donation Drives” was organized on the 27th of July 2015 at Bangalore Medical College. Teams from Victoria and Bowring Hospital – the 2 hospitals under BMC that have blood banks were part of the training program. More than 30 students who will be a part of blood donation drives in the future also attended the training. In total there were 55 attendees. Dr Sundar P from, Professor, Transfusion Medicine from NIMHANS was present as a guest trainer.
The training started off by giving an overview of the way Sankalp Rakta Kranti unit works, the roles and responsibilities taken up by the team in organizing blood donation drives and expectations from blood banks to deliver what is promised. Senior Sankalp volunteers stressed on the need for maintaining professionalism in blood donation drives by working on all areas of compliance as laid down in standards set forth by NACO or DCI. Emphasis was also laid on having a professional attitude and maintaining time, hygiene in the drive.
Crucial time was also spent on upgrading the soft skills of team members. It has been proved beyond doubt by various studies all over the world that if a blood donor has a pleasant experience he/she is very likely to come back to donate again and again in successive drives. This helps in converting the donor to a regular voluntary blood donor for life and also retaining the confidence and trust of organizers to give us an opportunity to conduct a drive in their premises. Instances of how poor treatment has had bad consequences were put forward.
Modules relevant to the role of an individual was also a part of the program. Sankalp has drafted together a protocol on assessing donor suitability for donation – something that is crucial in deciding whether a person must be accepted for or deferred from donation. An end to end discussion was held on the same in the presence of Dr Sundar, Dr Sreelatha – HOD Transfusion Medicine, Bangalore Medical College, Dr Dheemanth & Dr Prasanna – Associate Professors at the Transfusion Medicine Department, Dr Zaheer – blood bank medical officer at Bowring Hospital and a few PG graduates. The doctors agreed on using the document as a guideline for selecting/deferring donors in blood donation drives.
While this discussion and debate was on, modules on Hb estimation, pre-donation tests practices, phlebotomy techniques were held for the technical and nursing staff. Materials that included high quality videos, well designed and informative booklets were used. Every aspect of Hb estimation – including need, the right tools and methods, proper way of doing things, maintaining hygiene and sanitation were discussed in detail. The training on phlebotomy techniques covered preparing the site of phlebotomy, selection of vein, maintaining right pressure, the correct method of pricking and handling donors. Jagadish, a senior technician and one with a rich experience of having led teams in more than 200 drives shared some valuable practical tips and techniques. He too emphasized the need for doing things right at phlebotomy with sheer regard to professionalism, careful consideration of the specifics related to the donor. He brought out instances from his rich experience where incorrect treatment meted out to donors has had a negative effect. The reason and need for good pre donation hydration was discussed in detail. The students too asked several questions and jotted down notes throughout the session. The technicians and students were also given a walkthrough of the donor questionnaire form and the importance of each field in the same.
Following a short break, the session convened again with all doctors, technicians and nursing staff to learn about identification and management of complications in blood donation drives. Dr Sundar walked the attendees through the various complications as listed in the complications manual adopted by Sankalp and participating blood banks in November 2013. Every complication, its symptoms, interventions required to manage the donor were discussed. The trainees were also given an overview of emergency drugs, the triggers for their administration. Finally the session touched upon the role each individual needs to play when there are complications and how by better coordination and team work every situation can be well managed.
The trainees were very happy with the half a day program and several students expressed satisfaction and gratitude for having taken them through various practical aspects. “Such programs are useful for both newcomers and experienced staff members. For the newcomers it is an opportunity to get first hand access to valuable information before they attend regular blood donation drives. For the ones who are already part of teams, these sessions help make our basics stronger, enable us to think about the mistakes made and look at corrective measures we need to adopt in blood donation drives. I am happy and glad to have been a part of this” said Jagadish. The entire team of Bangalore Medical College expressed satisfaction on the conduct of the event.
The Rakta Kranti team is hoping that future blood donation drives involving teams from BMC will have greater compliance to standards, have better quality and most importantly give every donor a memorable experience.Patrika Edition
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