An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from January to June 2015 among health professionals at University of Gondar Hospital in Northwest Ethiopia. University of Gondar Hospital is found in Gondar town which is 748 km apart from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. The hospital is the oldest medical school in Ethiopia. It was established as the Public Health College in 1954. It is a referral hospital for four district hospitals in the area and is serving more than 5 million people. It has also a blood bank which is established before 10 years. The hospital has 550 beds and 822 health professionals. Out of 822 health professionals, 186, 493, 71, 51, 9, 12 are physicians, nurses, laboratory science technologists, pharmacists, anesthetists and radiographers respectively. The hospital renders services for about averagely 500 clients per day. Annually, about 219,968 clients get services in the hospital.
All health professionals working in University of Gondar Hospital and those available during the study period were the source population and study population respectively.
Sample size determination
The sample size was calculated by considering the assumptions for single population proportion formula: the proportion (P) = 50%, Z = standard normal distribution value at 95% confidence level of Za/2 = 1.96, 5% of absolute precision, and 10% non-response rate. Hence, the total sample size was 427. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Proportional allocation was employed to select the study participants. There are a total of 822 health professionals. When they are divided proportionally; 97 physicians, 256 nurses, 37 laboratory science technologists, 26 pharmacists, 5 anesthetists and 6 radiographers were taken.
Data collection procedures
Pre-tested and structured questionnaires using self-administered were used for data collection. The questionnaire was adapted after reviewing similar literatures [5, 7, 8]. A total of 42 items were used to answer the objectives of the study. The questionnaire was divided into four sections. These sections were Socio-demographic characteristics, Knowledge on blood donation, attitude towards blood donation and blood donation practice. Pre-testing of the questionnaire was undertaken on 22 health professional (5% of the sample size) in Debre Tabor General Hospital which is a nearby hospital. Some items in the questionnaire were revised for clarity, wordiness, logical sequence, and skip pattern after the pre-test was done. Data collection was facilitated by two facilitators who hold bachelor degree in nursing in University of Gondar Hospital. The facilitators were selected based on their previous experiences. A 2-day comprehensive training was given for the facilitators.
The questionnaires were coded and entered into EPI Info version 3.5.3 statistical software and then exported to SPSS windows version 16 for further analysis. Data were summarized and presented using descriptive statistics. Bivariate and multiple logistic regressions were computed to identify the presence and strength of associations. Odds ratios with 95% CI were computed and variables having P values less than 0.05 in the multiple logistic regression models were considered significantly associated with the dependent variable.
Operational definition
Knowledge about blood donation was categorized after asking 9 questions. Those respondents who scored greater than or equal to the mean for knowledge questions were considered as knowledgeable, otherwise not.
Attitude about blood donation was categorized after asking 8 questions using a likert scale method and the mean scores were computed and dichotomized into favorable (score ≥ mean value) or unfavorable (<mean value).
Blood donation practice in this study was considered if the respondents had ever donated blood at least one time in life.
Current donors If the time period of donating blood is less than 1 year.
Elapsed donors If the time period of donating blood is 1–2 years.
Never donors If the participants did not donate blood in his/her life.