What happens when you donate platelets

Donating platelets takes about 75 minutes. You can expect to spend about two hours at the donation site for the entire donation process. Discover the different steps of a platelets donation.

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Before your donation

Plan your donation

We recommend booking an appointment to donate platelets. Of course, if you’re passing by a donation centre and have the time to donate then and there, check with our team to see if there are any openings. If there are, we’ll be more than happy to take you. But of course, it’s best to book an appointment to guarantee your spot.

Preparing to donate: Some tips and tricks

  • Make sure you feel well the day of your appointment. 
  • Review the eligibility criteria.*
  • Wear loose-fitting clothing with sleeves that can be rolled up above the elbow. 
  • Bring your Héma-Québec donor card or your virtual donor card on the JeDonne Web app. 
  • If this is your first donation or if you’ve lost your donor card, bring a form of photo ID (e.g., driver’s licence, health insurance card or passport). Student IDs and business and public transit cards (e.g., OPUS) are not accepted. 
  • Have a list of all your medications and vaccinations handy to give our team. 
  • If you’ve travelled, make a list of the countries you’ve visited. You will be asked for this list during the pre-donation questionnaire.
  • If you’re bringing a child with you to your appointment, plan to come with an adult who will not be donating. If both adults wish to donate, book appointments at least one hour apart. That way, there will always be someone to watch the child, and the first donor will be free before the second donor has begun their eligibility interview with a Héma-Québec staff member.

*Note: The Héma-Québec staff member conducting your pre-donation eligibility interview makes the final call on your eligibility.

Right before donating:

  • Drink at least 500 ml of water or juice and eat something salty. 
  • Be sure to eat well and avoid fatty foods (bacon, fried food, etc.). 
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While you're at the centre

Donating platelets is only available at some of our donation centres. It’s not possible to donate platelets at mobile blood drives. 

Reception

Upon arrival, you must:

  • Show photo ID.
  • Review the eligibility criteria.
  • Review the information on platelets donation so you can give informed consent.

Registration

  • We will go over your information with you to create or update your file.
  • We will give you a wristband with a unique barcode that will be used to identify you at each step of the donation process.
  • We will take your photo, if needed. 

Health screening questionnaire 

In this questionnaire, you will be asked about your health, your medications, any countries you have visited and any activities that put you at risk for transmissible diseases. You can ask for headphones to listen to the audio version of the questionnaire if you prefer. 

Eligibility interview

  • We will go over some of your answers to the questionnaire, if needed. 
  • We will take your temperature and check your hemoglobin levels.
  • We will check your height and weight. 
  • At the end of the interview, we will confirm whether you are eligible to donate. If you are, you will be asked to sign a donation consent form.

Donation

  • We will disinfect the puncture site, insert a needle in the vein, take samples for lab tests and then collect the platelets.
  • We start by collecting samples to test for your blood type and any diseases transmissible by transfusion.
  • When you donate platelets by apheresis, a collection device draws your blood, separates it into its various components and returns the red blood cells and plasma to your body, keeping only the platelets. The procedure is very efficient. By comparison, you would have to give blood five times to donate the same amount of platelets collected in a single apheresis session. 
  • The collection device uses centrifugation to extract the platelets and return the red blood cells and plasma to your body. Blood is collected and returned multiple times in order to extract the amount of platelets needed. 
  • We will give you a hand exercise ball that you can squeeze at regular intervals, and will offer to put a heating pad under your arm to keep your blood vessels nicely dilated throughout your donation.
  • When you donate platelets, we also take a small amount of plasma, which is used to preserve the platelets. 
  • We will give you a hand exercise ball that you can squeeze at regular intervals to keep your blood vessels nicely dilated throughout your donation. 
  • An anticoagulant is added to the blood collected for platelet donation to prevent platelets from coagulating inside the device or collection bag. After the platelets are collected, a small amount of anticoagulant will be returned to your body along with the red blood cells. 
  • You’ll be set up in a comfy chair where you can read, chat with our staff and other donors or just sit back and relax. 

Donating takes about 75 minutes. Our staff will keep a close eye on you the entire time. 

We collect around 15% of a donor’s estimated blood volume based on their height and weight. 

We use sterile, single-use equipment. That means there’s zero danger of contracting a disease from platelet donation. 

Rest and snack

When you’re done donating and the needle is removed, you must stay seated in the donor chair and apply pressure to the puncture site for 5 minutes before heading to the snack area. 

You will be offered a selection of snacks and beverages. You’ll leave feeling proud that you helped save lives! 

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After your donation

After leaving our centre, you must:

  • Rest, drink plenty of water or juice and avoid alcohol
  • Keep your puncture site bandaged for 6 hours
  • Avoid any strenuous activity for 6 to 8 hours (platelet donation may make strenuous activities more difficult for several days).

If you feel faint: Sit with your head between your knees or lie down and put your legs up for several minutes. If you are driving, park safely and ask for help or wait until you feel well enough to drive again.

You may need to wait longer before returning to work or exercise, depending on what you do (e.g., bus driver, heavy machinery operator, etc.). 

Icône foire aux questions

Frequently asked questions

You can give platelets every 14 days! Your body can make millions of platelets every minute. Because platelets can be replaced so quickly, it doesn’t take long for a donor to get back to a complete blood count.  

Platelets have a storage life of only 7 days. When you donate, you’re helping to save the lives of people who don’t have enough platelets in their blood. Thank you for sharing your health!

If you’re bringing a child with you to your appointment, plan to come with an adult who will not be donating. If both adults wish to donate, book appointments at least one hour apart. That way, there will always be someone to watch the child, and the first donor will be free before the second donor has begun their eligibility interview with a Héma-Québec staff member. 

 

Héma-Québec tests all donations for the following blood-borne diseases:

  • Hepatitis A, B and C
  • Human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV 1/2)
  • Syphilis
  • Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
  • West Nile virus (WNV):
    • Donations are systematically tested during WNV season. In the off-season, tests are conducted if the donor has travelled outside of Canada in the last 56 days.
  • Chagas disease:
    • Donations will be tested if the donor’s mother or maternal grandmother was born in Latin America (including Mexico) or if the donor spent 30 or more consecutive days in Latin America.  
  • Parvovirus
  • Cytomegalovirus (CMV), as needed.

Héma-Québec may also perform any other tests needed in pursuit of its mission.

Under certain circumstances, these tests might not be performed (e.g., if a sample is damaged). If so, these donations are discarded without further testing. 

If your lab results are abnormal:

  • Your donation will be discarded.
  • We will notify you of your results, which are kept confidential. We will also notify Canadian Blood Services so that they know how long you are ineligible to donate.
  • When required by law, we will notify regional public health departments of positive test results. 

Your donation will be discarded.

  • We will notify you of your results, which are kept confidential. We will also notify Canadian Blood Services so that they know how long you are ineligible to donate.
  • When required by law, we will notify regional public health departments of positive test results. 

Héma-Québec collects personal information from donors through their interactions with its staff and via completed questionnaires. This information is required in order to make a donation. Héma-Québec uses the personal information of its donors, including their test results, to determine their eligibility for donating blood products, manage donations and communicate with donors.

Héma-Québec may disclose information to Canadian Blood Services and to hospitals or other blood transfusion centres, some of which are located outside Québec, for blood recipient safety purposes.

Donors can view their personal information and have it corrected by contacting the person in charge of access to documents and protection of personal information at responsable.acces@hema-quebec.qc.ca.

The blood products we collect are used for transfusions or for manufacturing medications. On rare occasions, donations may be used for educational purposes, specialized lab testing (transfusion medicine), product quality control and international aid.