What do you guys know about those blood plasma "donation" (sales) centers that seem to be around college campuses? Getting paid just to sit there and have blood drawn seems too good to be true. Have any of your guys had firsthand experience with these places, especially with any of the ones near Gainesville? Any long-term medical problems that could result, that I'm unaware of? There's surprisingly little information on the internet about it.

RUMOR has it they use your plasma for shampoo and other cosmetic products....

I'm in. Lots of personal experience. Process...drain one bag of blood...30 minutes average...phlebotomist puts in cetrifuge and spins it, removes plasma-yellowish fluid that is the liquid part of your blood. Returns the cells and a bag of saline to you. total time around an hour to an hour and a half. You will be tested for everything because your plasma is being sold to hospitals, etc. You can donate twice a week. No real side effects other than being stuck with a large needle. If you do it enough it will scar. No experience with centers in that area..but you will nedd to learn to read one-handed and you will encounter some pretty rough individuals. EAT WELL if you do this. It is a drain on your system and you will be better off if you eat well.  addition...I broke in around six new "vampires" when I was a donor. Large, easy, blood vessels in my arms....it was kinda of frightening to realize that they were more scared than I was.

Don't know anything about that, but a guy I work with gets payed for his sperm, really.

God only knows how many big, dumb, Gomer Pyle looking kids he has running around on this planet. [%|]

I used to do it as a career.  Seriously.

It was a good supplement to my income when I needed it, but at the time, it pretty much just paid for my cigarettes.

I have permanent scars from weekly needles going into my arm.  It is relatively safe, they have professionals administering it, but it removes plasma (RH factor) and weakens your immune system.  It is used for medical research, so it is for a good cause.  I'm glad I never have to do it again, though.  

I'll never forget the feeling of room temperature saline pumping back into my body:  It's a feeling like icewater running into your veins.

It damn sure motivated me to get into a different line of work, cut my hair, take out my earrings and work for the MAN.

Now, I am the MAN [:D]

hi guys...

i'm a Registered Medical Technologist specializing in Hematology and Blood Banking at a Trauma Center..

lets clear the AIR..

plasma donation centers pay for your plasma usually thru means of phereisis machines much like kidney dialysis machines..

THE PLASMA IS NOT USED FOR ANY HUMAN PATIENTS, regardless what you hear or read. The plasma only goes to companies that make reagents and other components.

the US has a policy of NOT having PAID blood donors for its blood supply.

give blood...YEAH...especially non red cross donation centers (if a local donation center is available).

beware..about plasma donation centers..as some have said...some people working there arent the greatest medical professionals and there have been many deaths and illnesses associated from this procedure...in several instances..personel replaced Distilled (DI) water instead of saline into the donors and killed them..instant red blood cell hemolysis..imagine pouring coke on a corroded battery terminal.

BTW..plasma has no RH factor..Rh is a blood group on the red cell..just like O, A, B and AB.

Rbc's have hundreds of groups that are used for a crossmatch and that is why...UNCROSSMATCHED BLOOD is almost never used..for a transfusion.. no matter what you see on the mockery of TV..hehe

every time a doc calls for uncrossmatched blood we have a back porch discussion with him and they usually back out of it..and wait the 45 minutes for a work-up.

plasma contains clotting factors..but it has to come in tne form of fresh frozen plasma for use as a blood component for factor replacement.


personally, there are easier ways to make cash...

muddydog MT(ASCP)

mcnielsen...it was always a way to coll down on a summer day.......fresh saline at room temp.....

muddy........you say plasma is used as factor replacement and before you said that it is never used for people...please explain...and at the center I was at, it was frozen and shipped.

Thanks for the information, all, and hey hound, speaking of "vampires:"

Everyone take a look at this link:

[url]http://www.sociology.org/content/vol004.002/diaz.html[/url]

It's from the Electronic Journal of Sociology, some guy from a University of Nevada wrote it. I found it while doing a more through search for information. The first seven paragraphs or so are mostly sociological jargon that can be difficult to wade through, the real "report" begins afterward. It's superficially (VERY superficially) about blood plasma donation but mostly it's just...red. And not like blood, either.

[i]VERY[/i] red, if you know what I mean.

On topic: I've talked to several friends of mine who go to UF. I haven't heard anything bad from any of them, except a few who were afraid of needles before they started doing it. How many times would you have to do it before serious scarring would result? Does anyone have a general idea?

Those plasma joints are a good place to get Hepatitis. But hey, you get a few dollars to go with that deibilitating and life threatening disease.

Muddy's correct that it is NEVER used directly for patients.  The blood centers (ARC and local/regional centers) are entirely volunteer, and they do have pretty strong restrictions on what they can "do" for Donors (other than providing juice and cookies when you donate)--it is acceptable to give out coupons to donors for things from local merchants (I recally a free Big Mac coupon once), but not to pay them.

The Plasma centers do strip the plasma component (the "clear stuff" in the blood), and ship it to manufacturers who will extract and purify the Albumin and Plasma Protein portions, and re-sell, along with use for manufacturing (not shampoo, though)--your plasma goes into a huge vat of other plasma to be used, and is basically not tracked.  

Most clotting factors are recombinant human factors now--the Factor 8, 9, etc. that hemophiliacs get are from human genes inserted into bacteria or other cell lines, and the produced Factors are purified for injection.

Most of the factors used by the Doctors in the hospital (unless the patient is a diagnosed hemophiliac) come in the form of Fresh Frozen Plasma--when you donate, the "unit" of blood is about 500cc's (about a Pint)--it is spun down into the Red Cells, Plasma and Platelets, and each is removed and bagged separately.  The Red Cells get an additive that gives them about a 40 day shelf life, the Plasma is frozen and is good for a year, and the platelets are good for 5 days (agitated at room temp).  This is when you donate at a REAL blood donor center, not a pay-for-plasma place.  Each unit of blood you give there is very carefully tracked and the records are stored for over 10 years.

When you get in trouble, and the Doctor orders blood for you, he usually gets the Red Blood Cells--they provide the oxygen carrying capacity to your body.  After that, he may decide you need help clotting, so he will order Fresh Frozen plasma to be thawed (then it is good for 24 hours) and will infuse it to help you clot.  Platelets are also involved in the clotting process, and may be given if you have a severe bleed.  

Muddy is right--if you really don't need the money, the Local Blood Centers or American Red Cross are very professional and clean, and the donation you make will save someone's life--There is always a need for blood of every type (not just the type that they announce on the news on occasion--"there is an urgent need for type O - and O +"), and it gets VERY bad around the holidays.  

AFARR--BB(ASCP)

Muddy--I did the BB thing for 8 1/2 years at night in a Level 1 Trauma center before I "quit" to go back to school (I still do it part time)--are you talking about going back to school yet?  I have NEVER met a MT that didn't talk about it through most of their career.

Care to cite a source for this "information"? How does one contract hepatitis from a sterile, single use IV cath?
Are you in the health care field?

Akintude, there is NO BASIS for any fear of contracting hepatitis, AIDS, etc. from either plasma or blood donation. Don't let soylent scare you.

no you get hep from the toilets.....you would have a hard time getting anything from a needle that is taken out of the sterile pack at my side and then cut off and put in the "sharps" container....

I have a lot of experience with this.  I've been a regular 2x a week donor for about 8 years now.  I've never had a problem, never had a bad reaction, always been treated with the utmost respect and professionalism.  Aventis Bio Services is who I go to.

I get $55 a week for donating, all tax-free.  Helps with the tuition, and you have a nice quiet place to study for 2 hours.

My advice is to make sure you keep your protein levels up and drink LOTS of water - this helps you get in and out quicker, as dehydration slows down the rate at which your plasma is taken out.

Judging from what I've heard both on the board and from "real life," it seems the biggest factor is going to be the individual centers. I assume some are good, some are not so good.

[b]Greywolf[/b], 2x/week for eight years, so after roughly 832 donations, have you experienced any significant scarring?

I've had a small area on my arm where there is a small "scar" but it isn't too noticeable.  

good post AFARR...the reality of blood banking..

i come from a quirky background..half agriculture and canine business and half human medical..hehe

i wanted to use MT as a stepping stone to either vet or D.O. school butttttt

things just didnt work out that way..

OSU (OK St U) had a policy that all vet students must apply within 4 years of graduation..

i was around 6 months late..

i took the MCAT and made a 9 and didnt get an interview for med school..

the FOREIGN students make too much cash for the schools..and the quotas were outrageous..

my cherokee/choctaw blood wasnt enough to qualify for MINORITY status..

i'm a professional retriever trainer and the hospital gig gives me time to hunt and train.

i'm a Lead Technologist on 3-11 and even though we are a 1100 bed facility with a new trauma center, our lab is one of the largest reference labs(3500 CBC's a day, 3000 on my shift) in the nation and that actually gives us more problems than anything.

blood banking is a weird medical science and its kinda like an ACE IN THE HOLE..

very few DOCs understand it..very few MED TECHS will work it..so we figure we have a corner on the market..

PS..

i'm more afraid of catching a disease from our reagents and the paid plasma and blood than i am from hospital patients..

who would have thought..

for those of you who think that you cant catch Hep or Hiv from a sterile setting (I.E. a docs office..etc) you need to read up about the cases here in Oklahoma and Nebraska where docs have transmitted Hep C to hundreds of people by using the same needles and syringes for use of scripts and medicines into IV caths and not directly by puncture into blood vessels..as a tech in a reference lab i can assure you that thousands of people without symptoms are out there with Hep, especially C.

i'm sure infections by ANY medicinal therapy of any disease can be accounted for.


remember the last person to graduate in med school still gets M.D. after their name..

i've been doing this for 10 years now and the medical field scares the shit outta me..

i'd be a horrible patient..thank god...my family and friends are healthy.

Muddy--email at you.

AFARR

My Path instructor in medical school.

You don't. You get it from poorly contained biohazards and poor hygiene and technique on the part of the phlebotomists. Also, when they plasmapheris you, you get the RBCs back, and the technique used there as well as the cleanliness of the centrifuge is what is in question.

See above.

Blood donation? No, no problem there. Usually those guys are top notch and there is less of a chance of a problem. Plasma donation is another story entirely. They hire people off the street to do phlebotomies. But do what you want. You most likely won't get sick. I suggest a websearch on what you are planning though. Those places get shut down for health problems from time to time.

Soylent, I may have answered too vociferously. Please excuse the underlying current of my post. However, most donation sites have switched over to chair side machinery which spins down the blood, seperates the plasma nad returns the RBCs via a self-contained, single use cartridge. The days of actually drawing off a bag, spinning it down, squeezing out the plasma and reinfusing the RBCs via hand are rapidly becomng the past.  Statistically, a donor is more likely to be seriously injured in a car accident on his way to donate than to contract hepatitis, HIV or other bug-itis via donation. While a significant amount of donated plasma is used in cosmetics and such, you of all people should understand the importance of plasma in the production of life saving medications. Why overblow unjustified fears?