Blood is a precious fluid that can only be obtained by donation from another person. One donation can save several lives at once. Our team has been working on the topic of blood donation since 2019, when we conducted a study for the National Transfusion Service of the Slovak Republic (NTS SR) called "Improving the quality of donation for NTS SR", in which we investigated what factors influence people's motivation to donate blood and how to build a regular habit of donation among first-time donors to ensure a constant supply of necessary blood.

• sample size: 3205
• questionnaire survey
• survey location: 5 NTS sampling points

• sample size: 325
• laboratory experiment
• place of experiment: the Masaryk University in Brno
• financial reward for participation in the experiment

• we found out what factors influence people's motivation to donate blood
• how blood donation is perceived and evaluated by the donors themselves
• that the presence of a donor's choice of whether to help one or more entities increases the willingness to donate blood
• blood and plasma is considered a substitute by donors
• Improving the organisation of donations is important to increase the number of donations (introduction of a behavioural donor register and automated electronic mailing of invitations)

• is an effective tool to simplify the management of blood/blood plasma donation
• enable continuous monitoring, testing and improvement of blood and blood plasma collection in Slovakia by increasing collection efficiency, reducing donor communication costs and increasing donor satisfaction
• relieves the administrative staff of the NTS SR and the donors themselves
• setting up automated sending of invitations to donors based on the current blood/blood plasma stock needs of the NTS SR
• tailored invitations sent to each donor based on the preferences they entered when registering (how often they want to donate; what they want to donate blood/blood plasma for; how they want to be contacted by SMS/email)

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, together with the NTS SR, we were looking for ways to stabilize the blood supply, as there was a problem that the number of donors began to drop sharply due to the fear of contracting the disease and the protective measures in place, not knowing whether they could go to donate blood during the declaration of an emergency situation in Slovakia.

• setting up a media appeal to increase blood donations
• setting up the communication of the call via social networks (infographics)
• recommended measures for long-term stabilisation of the blood component for the NTS SR

• tracking the factors influencing charitable giving to charities
• the conclusion is that being able to choose how many charities one helps increases the frequency and motivation of people to behave prosocially
• Recommendations for the NTS SR not to divide donors into blood donors and plasma donors, but to always give them the choice of what they want to donate
• sciencedirest.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165176522002397

• National Transfusion Service of the Slovak Republic
• Masaryk University in Brno
• MSMG, Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia
• University of Sydney, Australia
• University of Economics in Bratislava

Better coordination of the donation process for faster replenishment of the required blood and plasma stocks and cost-effectiveness, especially in times of shortage. And obtaining self-sufficiency of the Slovak Republic in the production of medicines from plasma and maintaining self-sufficiency in whole blood collection.