Whether this is your first time donating blood or you donate regularly, the blood station must ensure that donating blood will not cause any harm to you. This includes checking your blood to ensure it can be safely transfused to others.

Before donating blood, the staff will ask you about your medical history, including any medications you are currently taking, as well as your current health condition and lifestyle. They may also ask about your recent travel history; if you live in a country that is malaria-free, they may ask if you have recently visited tropical countries. The sole purpose of these questions is to protect your own health and the health of the recipient of your blood. The staff will inform you whether you are eligible to donate blood, and if you are not currently eligible, whether you may be able to donate in the future. Any personal information you provide is confidential and will not be used for any other purpose.

It is very important to candidly inform you of any reason why your blood may not meet the requirements. Staff will routinely test the blood, checking for infections that can be transmitted through blood transfusion, such as HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and syphilis, but may not be able to detect recent infections. This means that even if the blood test results show no infection, the donated blood may still infect the patient receiving the transfusion.

After answering these questions, the staff will conduct a simple physical examination, which may include measuring your pulse and blood pressure, and ensuring that your weight meets a specific minimum. Then, the staff will take a drop of blood from your fingertip to check whether donating blood will make you anemic. Your health is very important to the blood donation service. Your blood will only be collected if you meet the criteria for safe blood donation.

Donating blood is very simple. You will be asked to maintain a comfortable position, usually sitting or lying on a special chair or bed while donating. Trained healthcare workers will disinfect the inside of your elbow with a sterilizing agent, then insert a sterile needle into your vein. Donating blood usually takes around 10 minutes.

Rest for 10 or 15 minutes, have a snack, and then you can resume normal activity. However, after donating blood, you should avoid heavy physical work for the rest of the day. Over the next 24 hours, you should drink plenty of fluids or other beverages.