MEDICAL LESSONS LEARNED

File: aaata_10.txt
Page: 10
Total Pages: 36
                                       MEDICAL LESSONS LEARNED
                                         DESERT SHIELD/STORM


          CATEGORY:  Blood

          ISSUE/ITEM:

          SUBJECT:  Assessment of Donor Population

          BACKGROUND:   Military Blood Donor  Centers  are  assigned  quotas  for  collection
          based, in part, on calculated base donor pools.  Care should  be  taken  to  ensure
          donor population is accurately quantified.

          DISCUSSION:  A high percentage of ATC donors are our students.    In  Desert  Storm,
          we found that we had not previously considered  the  fact  that  pipeline  students
          would have recently arrived from BMWs  at  Lackland  where  they  would  have  been
          previously drawn to satisfy Lackland quotas.      The impact would  have  been  much
          greater in a general war scenario, when BMTS/student production  would  be  greatly
          accelerated.

          ACTION RECOMMENDED:

                       (1)    Determine  appropriate   "discount  factors"   in   calculating
          available student donors at the receiving TTCs.

                       (2) Determine minimum safe  time  interval  in  which  these  students
          could be redrawn at the TTCs-

          SUGGESTED OPRs/OCRs:  HQ ATC/SG/TT
                                 HQ USAF/SGHR

          SUBMITTER:  [(b)(2)]              HQ ATC/SGAX