Determination Of Awareness and Knowledge Level on Brain Death, Organ Donation and Transplantation in Intensive Careers in Konya

Abstract

Aim: It is shown that there is a lack of social and individual information on organ transplantation and donation, and as a result, organ donation is not sufficient due to social and individual insensitivity. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the level of awareness, attitude and knowledge about brain death, organ donation and transplantation in intensive care workers of hospitals in xxxx.
 Materials and Methods: A total of 219 healthcare professionals, 144 nurses and 75 doctors, who agreed to meet face-to-face with the researcher, who were working in xxxx province state hospitals, university hospitals and private hospital intensive care units, were included in the study. The data of the study were collected using the 'Data Collection Form', which was created as a result of the literature review and includes demographic information.
 Results: A total of 219 health care workers participated in the study with 144 (65.8%) intensive care nurses and 75 (34.2%) intensive care physicians. There was an organ donation card of 13.2% (n: 29) of the participants. There were 16,7% (n: 24) nurses and 6,7% (n: 5) doctor donation cards in doctors. In the case of brain death, 56.9% of participants wanted their organs to be donated. In the case of brain death, 58.7 of those who did not accept organ donation did not feel ready. 21% (n: 46) previously participated in organ / tissue donation and transplantation, 16.9% (n: 37) previously participated in brain death related trainings. Among the doctors who participated in the study 37.8% (n: 28) Electroencephalography (74%) and Radionuclide Cerebral Scintigraphy (62%) are the most common supportive tests used for the diagnosis of brain death.
 Discusion: Nursing and doctors' support of tissue / organ donation and transportation does not affect having donation card. There is no significant difference between the general knowledge levels of anesthesia and other branch physicians about brain death, but anesthesia doctors have been found to be more experienced in diagnosing brain death. We believe that the positive attitudes of the intensive care workers on this subject and the sufficient level of knowledge will positively affect the amount of organ donation.