Aim of the study

Revealing the history of the development of the Polish military blood donation and blood therapy service and its importance within national transfusion medicine.

Material and methods

A full search of the of MEDLINE/PubMed and Web of Science databases and the legal governmental databases of Poland were undertaken, including data from 1925 to 2019. Titles and abstracts were searched for keywords and MeSH terms relating to blood donation in Poland and combining the keyword “blood donors” with the terms “transfusion medicine”, “Polish military blood donation”, “Polish military blood therapy”, and “law regulations”.

Results

The first documented animal blood transfusion was performed in France in the 17th century. However, the procedure was abandoned for several hundred years due to frequently occurring serious complications. Discovery of blood types and developing guidelines for safe blood transfusion in the 20th century was a turning point in the history of blood donation. Scientific discoveries allowed for the development of transfusion medicine, with Polish researchers greatly contributing to this development. Involvement in the development of national healthcare in the early 20th century led to the development of national blood donation and blood therapy, which gave rise to the military blood transfusion service.

Conclusions

Currently, Polish military blood donation and blood therapy play an important role in providing blood to healthcare facilities. Importantly, military blood donation units are a place of dynamic development of new techniques for obtaining and using blood and blood components, placing Poland at the forefront in the field of transfusion medicine.