Plasma Donation

[tonicareer]

There is a plasma center about 60 miles from me. It pays about 45 dollars a week for plasma. Have any of you nurses ever done this and what do you think? Is it safe? I kind have been thinking about it for a while but haven't done it yet. However I am having a difficult time making ends meet financially and am now considering it. In order to pay my bills for living and go to school I may have to do this. It is a way to pay some living expenses so I won't have to drop out of school. Have any of you done this before and what did you think?

[memphispanda, RN]

As far as I know plasma donation is as safe as regular whole blood donation. I have also thought about doing plasma donation for $$, but they don't make it easy here--they only take new people on certain days, certain blood types get more money than others...

Anyway, here's a link to some information:

http://www.lifeblood.org/donating/plasma.htm

[sjoe]

If you give it a try, be alert to any breaches of sterile technique, but otherwise there should be no problem (so long as you maintain your hydration). Many friends of mine used to do this in college.

[whipping girl in 07, RN]

I did it back in the day for beer money, but I'll warn you. If you make more than $600 from it in a year, they'll report it to the IRS and it's considered taxable income.

The place I went to was safe and clean, and since I had some idea about sterile technique, I felt confident when I was watching them start the IV, etc (OK, I admit, I only watched them open the packages, couldn't bear to see myself be stuck! ) that they weren't doing anything that could hurt me.