Abstract

 Background and Objectives

 The concerns about blood transfusion have given prominence to the role knowledge improvement can play as a strategy to improve health care quality and reduce health cost. This study is aimed at defining the learning opportunities available in blood centers for medical students.

 Materials and Methods

 In this quasi-experimental research study, fourteen medical students participated in a five day course designed to introduce learning opportunities in blood centers. At the end of the course, participants’ knowledge was measured through a test they were also retested after six months. Students’ marks were then compared by means of Wilcoxon “T” test. SPSS18 was used for data analysis.

 Results

 The mean of students’ marks in the first exam was 15.7 +2 (out of 20) but in the second exam it declined to 12.8+2 (p< 0.001). However, 85.7% of participants recommended this course for other medical students and 71.4% believed they were competent enough in selecting appropriate blood products.

 Conclusions

 Transfusion medicine should be educated through a multi-disciplinary manner and current clinical fields seem inadequate for this purpose. Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization can be considered as an effective center to provide learning opportunities for medical students.