Knowledge and Attitudes about Organ Donation among Medical Students in Egypt: A Questionnaire

Abstract

Introduction: Organ transplantation (OT) is life-saving for patients with failing organs. Shortage of donor organs can be solved by raising the willingness of the population to donate organs. Health-care professionals have a fundamental role in raising the public awareness. Methods: This is a cross sectional descriptive study in which a specially designed self-administered questionnaire to assess knowledge and attitude towards organ donation (OD) was used to perform a survey on a representative sample of pre-medical students in a local high school whose major is biology science and medical students in Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt. Results: A total of 359 students completed the questionnaire. 36% of the students had good knowledge about OD; however, 11.7% of them had good knowledge about brainstem death. 66.3% of students found their information resources insufficient. 77.7% of participants didn’t know about the law regulating OD in Egypt. 37% of the students had positive attitude towards organ donation. The most frequent cause for organ donation refusal was lack of confidence in the health care system (31%). There is a significant relation between student knowledge and positive attitude towards OD (P=0.003). Student's knowledge was significantly associated with seniority (P = 0.0001) and Christian religion (P=0.04). Conclusion: There is lack of sufficient knowledge about the legal aspect criteria and details of organ donation process which directly contributing in reducing the positive attitude among Egyptian medical students. In a religiously and culturally accepted background, educational curriculum must focus on the importance of OD in modern surgical practice. Awareness of regulating law and the concept of brainstem death is crucial for positive attitude from OD.