Roles of obstetricians in quality management of cord blood collection and informing potential donors: a survey on obstetricians' understanding of cord blood in Korea.

BACKGROUND

The obstetrician's role in vitalizing cord blood (CB) banking is important in both informing donors and beginning CB processing. The aim of the study was to investigate obstetricians' understanding of CB and their roles in informing donors and collection management.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

Questionnaires examining the management and awareness of CB were distributed to collection centers, and we analyzed 57 respondents who had collection experience.

RESULTS

All respondents were experienced, and 82.5% had CB collection experience of at least 4 years. If patients asked for information, one-third provided information about CB themselves, and two-thirds provided CB banks' (CBBs') contact information. Less than half of the respondents knew the legal regulations and had a collection manual. Regarding the awareness of transportation and storage of CB, 58% rated their knowledge as minimal, and respondents who knew the legal regulations rated their knowledge at a higher level. One-fifth of the participants felt that CB collection distracted the labor process, and 16% were concerned about delayed bleeding control. The probability of autologous CB transplantation was overestimated, and the matching probability in public CBBs was underestimated. Approximately 82.7% of the respondents correctly rated the therapeutic use of CB, and 54% rated their knowledge level about CB usefulness as average.

CONCLUSION

Obstetricians' understanding of CB was lower than expected, considering that they are associated with CB collection centers. Obstetricians who provide information and recognize regulations seem to collect CB in compliance with the regulations better. These results will be helpful in CB collection management and education planning for obstetricians.