Encouraging Blood Donation in Patients With a Blood Type in Short Supply

NCT05135325 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2021-0476
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 59,093
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

As of November 2021, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a months-long national shortage of several types of blood in the U.S. (O-Pos, O-Neg, A-Neg, B-Neg, and AB-Neg), which has extended to a local blood shortage within the Geisinger community. The broad aim of this collaborative healthcare operations quality improvement project is to determine whether a message indicating that a patient's own blood type is in short supply increases the likelihood that they will donate, compared to a message that mentions a blood shortage without referencing the patient's blood type, or no message at all. Scientists in Geisinger's Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), part of Geisinger's Steele Institute for Health Innovation, will collaborate with Miller Keystone, where Geisinger refers patients who wish to donate blood and from whom Geisinger receives blood for clinical purposes. Patients with one of the needed blood types will be randomized to receive 1) a message about a blood shortage that does not specify the blood types in short supply or their own blood type (no-blood-type message), 2) the same message modified slightly to specify the recipient's blood type, and to mention that their blood type is in short supply (blood-type message), or 3) no message (shortage control group). A second no-contact control group of patients without any of the needed blood types will also be observed (no-shortage control group). Both the blood-type and no-blood-type messages are informed by behavioral science, emphasizing supply needs in local hospitals and providing community-relevant examples of why someone might need blood (e.g., farming or industrial accidents). The BIT will compare how many patients in each group choose to donate blood. They hypothesize that: 1) patients who receive either message will be more likely to donate than patients who receive no message; and 2) patients who receive the blood-type message will be more likely to donate than those who receive the no-blood-type message. With respect to the latter hypothesis, informing the recipient that they have one of the needed blood types may increase their perception that they are in a semi-unique position to help someone in need as compared to a more general message that may suffer from a diffusion of responsibility effect.

Conditions

Health Behavior

Keywords

Blood donations; Nudge; Behavior change

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Number of Participants Who Attended a Donation Appointment

  Attended a donation appointment within 6 weeks of their message send date, regardless of whether they donated. This outcome includes patients who were unable to donate for any reason (e.g. low hemoglobin) or patients who showed up to the appointment but decided to leave before donating.

  Within 6 weeks of the final message send date

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Number of Participants Who Successfully Donated Blood

  Within 6 weeks of the final message send date

• Number of Participants Who Scheduled a Blood Donation Appointment

  Within 2 weeks of the final message send date

Study Arms (4)

No-blood-type message

EXPERIMENTAL

This group will receive a message that does not mention the patient's blood type, or that the patient's blood type is in short supply.

Behavioral: Patient portal message

Blood-type message

EXPERIMENTAL

This group will receive a message that mentions the patient's blood type and that states their blood type is in short supply.

Behavioral: Patient portal message; Behavioral: Social responsibility

Shortage control

NO INTERVENTION

This group will not receive a message.

No-shortage control

NO INTERVENTION

This group will not receive a message.

Interventions

Patient portal message BEHAVIORAL

Portal message encourages patients to donate blood

Blood-type message; No-blood-type message

Social responsibility BEHAVIORAL

Message specifies that there is a shortage of the patient's blood type

Blood-type message

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Documented blood type in short supply (for message groups and shortage control group)
• Documented blood type not in short supply (for no-shortage control group)
• Age 18+

You may not qualify if:

• Hemoglobin test result \< 12.5 within the 3 months prior to list creation

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Geisinger Clinic: lead

Study Sites (1)

Geisinger

Danville, Pennsylvania, 17822, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Health Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Amir Goren, PhD

  Geisinger Clinic

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, CARE PROVIDER
• Masking Details: The patients in the study will not know that other messages are being sent to other patients, although they will see the text of their own message. Providers will be blind to patient conditions.
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 15, 2021
• First Posted: November 26, 2021
• Study Start: November 15, 2021
• Primary Completion: June 6, 2022
• Study Completion: June 6, 2022
• Last Updated: July 26, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: The data will become available after publication of study results in a scientific journal and will be available as long as the Open Science Framework hosts the data.
• Access Criteria: The data on the Open Science Framework will be open to anyone requesting that information.

Locations

US (1)