Updated FDA Guidance on Blood Donation Screening: Where Are We Now?

Blood donation at Red Cross blood drive Photo by LuAnn Hunt on Unsplash

In July 2022, Velasco et al. brought attention to ongoing and systemic discriminatory policies regarding blood donation in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines specifically targeted individuals who identify as men who have sex with men (MSM). The screening questions specifically asked men if they had sex with other men. A “yes” answer disqualified potential donors from donating blood even if they were in monogamous relationships where both partners were HIV-negative.

In December 2022, the FDA’s commissioned study (ADVANCE) wrapped, and news emerged that the study’s results prompted potential changes in the FDA-required screening policies. In a post on this blog titled Potential Changes to Blood Donation Policies for MSM in the United States, I reported the possible changes.

At the time, although we knew there would be potential change, we did not have full transparency or a final answer. Then in May 2023, the FDA updated the guidance for screening blood donors based on the results of the ADVANCE study. You can review those changes here. However, until August 7, some major blood donation centers, such as the

2023-08-21T10:45:35-04:00August 21st, 2023|Nursing, Public health|0 Comments

Giving Back: The Heart of a Nurse

The Importance of Community Engagement, Volunteering, and Why Nurses Should Get Involved

Many of us became nurses because we wanted to heal and help others, and we believed that there is no greater honor and privilege than aiding another human being.

Nurses can offer so much to communities. People trust us, and we bring a health lens to everything we do. We know that people need safe places to exercise and play, a comfortable place to call home, clean air to breathe and water to drink, grocery stores with healthful food in our neighborhoods, and human connectedness. When we join boards or volunteer with organizations, we make our communities healthier.

During the pandemic, nurses volunteered at vaccine clinics and distributed food to people in need. Nurses served as a voice of reason when community members did not know who to turn to for health advice. Nurses are the backbone of disaster-relief efforts, and we teach our neighbors how to get and stay healthy.

A sense of empowerment and fulfillment.

My experiences serving as a disaster nurse with the Red Cross have […]

2022-05-23T16:53:37-04:00May 23rd, 2022|Nursing, nursing roles|0 Comments

May Issue: Assessing a Child’s Pain, Handling Work-Related Stress, Stop the Bleed, More

“Nursing takes a steely courage that many people don’t possess. We deal with raw emotions on a daily basis, taking in the grief and loss and pain and hopelessness of patients and families who look to us to make them feel better.”—AJN editor-in-chief Shawn Kennedy in her May editorial

The May issue of AJN is now live. Here are some highlights.

CE: Original Research: Work-Related Stress and Positive Thinking Among Acute Care Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Survey

In the first U.S. study to evaluate acute care nurses’ use of positive thinking in managing work-related stress, the authors found that positive thinking skills are being used to cope with such stress, and that nurses’ use of these skills can be improved through training.

CE: Assessing a Child’s Pain

This article discusses the factors that can influence a child’s report of pain, describes components of a comprehensive pediatric pain assessment, and reviews appropriate pain assessment scales for children of different ages and levels of cognitive development.

Nursing and the Sustainable Development Goals: From Nightingale to Now

The authors explore how nurses can contextualize the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals within their daily practice and create holistic plans of care for patients, families, communities, and nations.

Leading the Effort to Promote Bleeding Control in Our Communities

This […]

2019-04-29T08:16:17-04:00April 29th, 2019|Nursing|1 Comment

Clara Barton Tour Update: From Mercury as Medicine to Modern Disaster Response

The two Clara Barton Study Tour updates below are from Jean Johnson of the Red Cross National Nursing Committee and Linda MacIntyre, chief nurse of the Red Cross, who are taking in tons of impressions and information at the various tour sites.

Antietam At Antietam

Wednesday, September 28

We’ve found our way to the Pry House Field Hospital Museum near the Antietam battle site as our first stop on the Clara Barton Tour.  Medications used for surgery necessitated fast surgical procedures as ether wore off quickly. This had its benefits.

However, there were toxic medicines used, such as mercury. One surgeon refused to use a mercury-based medication and was discharged from his post. His colleagues weren’t ready to accept evidence-based medicine—it was later confirmed that mercury caused significant damage to tissue. We also learned that soldiers treated in the barn and field did better in recovery than the officers who were cared for in the Pry House. This was because of the fresh air. […]

Following in the Footsteps of Clara Barton

clara-barton-photographed-by-matthew-bradyAt Antietam: From government clerk to “Angel of the Battlefield”

This Saturday marks the 154th anniversary of the Civil War Battle of Antietam—what has been called “the single bloodiest day in American military history.” Confederate army and Union troops faced off in Sharpsburg, Maryland. They fought for almost two days and when the battle ended, there were over 22,000 casualties among both sides. In the middle of it all, Clara Barton, a former teacher and government clerk, drove wagons of supplies around battle lines and tended to wounded soldiers.

Antietam marked the beginning of the legacy of Clara Barton, who on that day earned the title “Angel of the Battlefield.” Today, a monument to her stands at one end of the battlefield.

Bringing the Red Cross to America

arc-logoWhen the war ended, Barton continued to work for the soldiers, founding the Bureau of Records of Missing Men of the Armies of the United States to identify the millions of missing and dead soldiers. After a visit to Geneva with the International Red Cross in 1880, she returned and established the American Red Cross and […]

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