History of Blood Donation and Transfusion Medicine

Mr. Zdravko Kvrzic enrolled in the 4-year program to become a practical nurse at the secondary school of nursing, which he successfully completed in 2006. He then enrolled in a three-year first-cycle professional higher education study program in nursing at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Ljubljana, where he graduated in 2010. The topic of his thesis was Nursing care of a patient after implantation of a total hip endoprothesis in the intensive care unit.

Mr. Kvrzic is a member of the Nurses and Midwives Association of Slovenia since 2011. He is a licensed registered nurse with many years of professional experience in the field of blood donation, working at the Blood Transfusion Center of Slovenia since 2011 and in 2017 he became the head nurse of the plasmapheresis section, which is an organizational unit of the Center for Blood Donor Selection and Blood Collection of the Department of Blood Supply.

Chapter1. Perspective on blood through history and its impact on transfusion.-Chapter 2.The curious case of Pope Innocent VIII.-Chapter 3. Animal blood donors for human patients.- Chapter 4. The first human-to-human transfusion in 1818.- Chapter 5. Interesting cases of transfusion in the 19th century.- Chapter 6. The discovery of blood groups in the 20th century.- Chapter 7. New developments during World War I.- Chapter 8. Different methods of transfusion by the 20th century.- Chapter 9. The first voluntary blood transfusion service in the world.-Chapter 10. First blood banks.- Chapter 11. Blood organisation during the Spanish Civil War.- Chapter 12. Blood donation and transfusion during World War II.- Chapter 13. Important events after World War II.- Chapter 14. New advancements in transfusion medicine.- Chapter 15. History of blood donation and transfusion medicine in the Republic of slovenia from 1875 - 1945.- Chapter 16. Organization and development of blood donation and transfusion medicine from the end of World War to present time.