| Summary: | Richard R Gammon,1,* Rounak Dubey,2,* Gaurav K Gupta,3,* Colleen Hinrichsen,4,* Aikaj Jindal,5,* Divjot Singh Lamba,6,* Sadhana Mangwana,7,* Amita Radhakrishnan Nair,8,* Shaughn Nalezinski,9,* Christopher Bocquet10 1Scientific, Medical and Technical Department, OneBlood, Orlando, FL, USA; 2Department of Transfusion Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagpur, India; 3Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA; 4Department of Transfusion Medicine, Princeton Medical Center at Penn Medicine, Plainsboro, NJ, USA; 5Department of Transfusion Medicine, Mohandas Oswal Hospital, Ludhiana, India; 6Department of Transfusion Medicine, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India; 7Department of Transfusion Medicine and Immunohematology, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute, New Delhi, India; 8Department of Transfusion Medicine Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, India; 9Department of Laboratory Medicine - Transfusion Services, Concord Hospital, Concord, NH, USA; 10Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies, Bethesda, MD, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Richard R Gammon, OneBlood, 8669 Commodity Circle, Orlando, FL, 32819, USA, Tel +1407 947 7963, Fax +1 407 264 8265, Email richard.gammon@oneblood.orgAbstract: Blood donors and voluntary blood donations are essential for ensuring the blood supply that can be maintained by good patient blood management (PBM) practices. This review article explores the role of blood donation in PBM and highlights the importance of donor screening and selection processes in different regions worldwide. The donor health questionnaires and the focused physical examination guidelines have changed in the last decade to increase donor and recipient safety. This article also discusses the status of transfusion practices, including the challenges of ensuring a safe blood supply. Significant among these are the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the blood supply chain and the impact of an aging donor population, especially. Promoting autologous donations and other blood conservation strategies are suggested to mitigate these issues. The role of replacement donors and the upper age limit for voluntary blood donation may be decided based on the demography and donor pool. The involvement of C-suite executives is also critical in implementing and running a successful PBM program. The review highlights how these different aspects of blood donation are integral to a successful PBM program and the safety of patients who receive blood transfusions.Keywords: donors, blood centers, transfusion service
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