Reasons for donating blood from a Registered Nurse's point of view.

Volume and antibody profiles.

Antibody: When matching a patient for a blood transfusion, you match blood type (A, B, AB, O -/+) and antibody profile. Everyone has antibodies present in their blood. Some antibodies work well together, others do not, and the recipient will have an allergic reaction, or their antibodies will attack the donor's blood. This profile becomes more complicated with pregnancy, and each transfusion received. Chronically ill patients who have received multiple transfusions can be very difficult to match. Cancer patients require blood that is absent of specific antibodies.

Volume: We need more blood; this issue is always present in the medical industry. A higher volume of donations allows us to match those more difficult profiles.