The 'Donor of the Future Project' - first results and further research domains.

BACKGROUND: The Alliance of Blood Operators initiated a project labelled 'Donor of the Future'. This study gives an overview of the project results, in particular with regard to country differences.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A large survey (N = 7663) among blood donors in six countries was conducted to analyse the effects of five global areas of change: (1) demographic change; (2) technological developments; (3) health innovations; (4) public, behavioural and attitudinal aspects; and (5) political, economic and environmental issues.

RESULTS: The main results exhibited similarities and differences between blood donors of the participating countries. Greater differences were found, for example, regarding technological developments. Whereas only blood donors from the UK and Australia would like to be informed via SMS, blood donors from all countries would like to be informed via email.

CONCLUSION: Different priorities of donors have been uncovered. These differences give suggestions to improve the country-specific donor management. Furthermore, the key findings provide a comprehensive overview of major future research domains.