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. Donation under pressure may, in fact, 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

1. Patients or patient's representative should contact a FBC donor/patient information specialist (DPIS) for donation appointments.

2. Directed donations will be accepted at all FBC branches during normal business hours. Each donor must identify themselves as a directed donor.

3. 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.

4. Only liquid red blood cells are routinely provided. Special requests may require written notification from the patients physician and/or additional charges.

5. It is recommended that the patient or representative contact a DPIS prior to the transfusion date to determine available units.

Special Considerations

1. 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

2. 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
1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 Directed Blood.

1. Incompatible directed donations will be released to the general inventory for use by other patients.

2. 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.

3. 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.