Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-23-2024
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Patients with hematologic malignancies (HM) often develop transfusion dependence. The patient and caregiver burdens associated with the need for frequent transfusions are high. Home blood transfusions has the potential to reduce these burdens, but is not widely practiced in the United States. We designed a qualitative study to evaluate the patient and caregiver perceptions of the potential for a home blood transfusion program.
STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Eligible patients included Adult (≥18 years) patients who were English speaking and met the definition for transfusion dependence within 3 months of study enrollment. We identified and interviewed eligible participants (patients and caregivers), using a semi-structured interview guide to elicit patient perceptions of the acceptability, barriers, and benefits related to home blood product transfusions. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Results were imported into NVivo 12 (version 12; QSR International, Burlington, VT) for coding and analysis.
RESULTS: We recruited participants until we reached thematic saturation, which occurred at 29 participants (20 patients, 9 caregivers). Among the 20 patient participants, nine had MDS (45%) and 11 had acute leukemia (55%). Most of the patients (60%) reported getting one transfusion per week. Four themes emerged when the participants discussed their perception regarding the potential of a home blood transfusion program: (1) current in-person experience, (2) caregiver burden, (3) perceptions of home blood transfusions, and (4) interest in participating in a home blood transfusion program.
CONCLUSION: The concept of home blood transfusions was well received and further research to study its implementation is warranted.
Recommended Citation
Binder, Adam F.; Hossain, Alavi; Doshi, Riyana; Vivero, Angelica; Martin Gonzalez, Karla; Gentsch, Alexzandra; Wilde, Lindsay; and Rising, Kristin L., "Patient and Caregiver Perceptions of the Possibility of Home Blood Transfusions" (2024). Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers. Paper 309.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/medoncfp/309
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
PubMed ID
38263774
Language
English
Comments
This article is the author’s final published version in Transfusion, Volume 64, Issue 3, March 2024, Pages 483–492.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1111%2Ftrf.17728. Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Transfusion published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of AABB.
Publication made possible in part by support through a transformative agreement between Thomas Jefferson University and the publisher.