DONOR SCREENING CRITERIA

Thank you for your interest in donating to the CHI St. Luke’s Health–Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center Blood Center. To ensure a quality and safe experience, the following Standards & Policies are derived from the American Association of Blood Banks and FDA regulations:

Age Limit: 17 and older (picture ID required at donation)

Food and Beverages: It is advised to eat within four hours prior to donation, preferably a low-fat meal.

Wait Time Between Donations:

• Whole Blood:         8 weeks
• Plasma or Platelet:     1 week
• Double Red Cells:     16 weeks

Weight Requirements: Donor must weigh at least 110 lbs.

Donation Restrictions

Not Eligible for Donation:

• Hepatitis after age 11.
• Heart disease/surgery only one year after surgery with attending physician’s letter
• Current kidney, liver or lung disease
• Abnormal bleeding related to factor deficiency*
• IV drug use
• Cancer unless three years free of disease
• Lymphoma and Leukemia never eligible
• AIDS or persons involved in high-risk activities or groups*
• Malaria, Chagas and Babesiosis
• Untreated venereal disease
• Creutzfieldt-Jakobs Disease or family history
• Travel or lived in the United Kingdom for three months or more from 1980-1996
• Residence in Europe for total of five years or more from 1980 to present
• Military duty of six months or more on European base (time frame varies by country)  *Indefinite

Time-Sensitive Eligibility
    One-week Deferral:      Tattoos and body piercing at Texas-licensed business
    Six weeks Deferral:      Pregnancy completion
    One-year Deferral:

• Tattoo, body piercing and permanently applied make-up done in non-sterile environment
• Transfusion of blood or plasma, organ or tissue transplant
• Accidental needle stick
• HBIG injection for exposure to hepatitis, co-habitation with a person with active hepatitis
• Travel to a malarial endemic area as defined by CDC
• Travel to Iraq

Medication Restrictions:

• Proscar (finasteride), Propecia (finasteride), Accutane (isotretinoin) Arava, Arthrotec, Cytotec, Embrel/Enbrel, Humira, Trexall/Rheumatrex (methotrexate), Plaquenil, Plavix, Remicade, Aggrenox, Imuran: defer for one month after last dose
• Avodart (dutasteride): defer for six months after last dose
• Hepatitis B Immune Globulin (HBIG): one year
• Soriatane (acitretin): three years after last dose
• Tegison (etretinate), Growth Hormone from Human Pituitary Glands (before 1985)
• Insulin from cows (imported from country associated with mad cow disease)*
• Coumadin, Apixaban, Arixtra, Brilinta, Digoxin, Effient, heparin, Lovenox, Orencia, Pradaxa, Ticlid, Xeralto : one month from last dose
• Thalomid indefinite deferral

                                                
Acceptable Medications

• Blood pressure medications (anti-hypertensives)
• Cholesterol medications
• No deferral for prophylactic antibiotic medication
• Antibiotics, anti-viral.  Acceptable after completion of treatment.
• Oral contraceptives (birth control pills)
• Hormone replacement medications (thyroid and female hormone medications)
• Diet pills and weight loss medications
• Analgesics, anti-inflammatories, migraine medications (e.g.: Darvon, Tylenol, Midol, anacin, aspirin, Advil, Aleve, over -the-counter medications for pain relief)
• Antihistamines
• Tranquilizers, anti-depressants and anti-psychotics
• Diuretics
• Antacids, hyperacidity medications

Inoculations and Vaccinations

Waiting Periods

• No deferral: Hepatitis Vaccine series (if donor is symptom-free), flu (H1N1) and pneumonia,
• allergy injections, rabies (immunization), HPV
• 72 hours:    Steroid injections in muscle, 24 for joint injections
• 2 weeks:    Rubeola, Mumps, Yellow Fever, and Oral polio vaccine
• 4 weeks:    MMR, (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) and Varicella Zoster (chicken pox/shingles)
• 8 weeks:    Smallpox
• One year:    Unlicensed vaccines, HBIG (Hepatitis B Immune Globulin)

General

• Prospective donors should be in good health and feel well the day of donation.
• At the time of donation, a detailed travel and medical history will be taken as well as blood pressure, temperature, pulse and hemoglobin/hematocrit. Donor eligibility will be determined during the donation screening.  
• For questions concerning a donor's medical eligibility, contact the Volunteer Blood Donor Program at 832-355-4483.