Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Organ Donation and Brain Death Among Medical Staff of Intensive Care Units

Introduction Insufficient family consent is among the most important obstacles for cadaveric donor organ donation. This study investigates the influence of attitudes, the knowledge level and beliefs about organ donation and brain death of medical staff who work in intensive care units. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted with the nurses, residents, specialists and academicians who work in intensive care units between 01 February 2017 and 31 May 2017. Socio-demographic characteristics of 190 participants were recorded. A questionnaire form which includes 24 5-Likert type items (1: min,5: max) inquiring knowledge, attitudes and beliefs toward organ donation and brain death was applied with face-to-face interviews and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was found as 0.838. Test value was taken as 3 for in-group comparisons, single sample t-test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for inter-group comparisons. Results A total of 190 participants were divided to three groups as nurses (Group-1, n=109), residents (Group-2, n=27), specialists and academicians (Group-3, n=54). Mean age was 34.0±7.2 years. Of the participants 128 (67.4%) were females. Mean score of the question “Do you have sufficient knowledge about organ donation?” was 3.6±0.7, mean score of the question “Do you know how organ donation is done?” was 3.8±0.8 (t= 12.420, p=0.000 and t=12.529, p=0.000,respectively). Mean score of the first question was found significantly lower in Group-1 (3.6±0.6) compared to Group-2 (3.3±0.8) and Group-3 (3.9±0.6) (X2= 11.117, p=0.004). Mean scores of the second question were 3.7±0.8, 3.5±1.1 and 4.0±0.8 in Group-1,2,3 respectively and there was not a difference between groups (X2= 4.423, p=0.110). Mean scores of the questions “Are you aware that brain death is a medical diagnosis?” and “Do knowledge and attitudes of intensive care unit medical staff influence family approval for organ donation?” were found high (mean score 4.3±0.7, t=25.156, p=0.000 and mean score 3.9±1.1, t= 10.55, p=0.000). Conclusion The participants were detected to have sufficient knowledge about organ donation and how it is done, they were seen to know that brain death is a medical diagnosis and highly agreed that knowledge and attitudes of medical staff of intensive care units positively affect family approval for organ donation. References 1. Ünal S, Elyas Z, Kaya Y, Özcan C. Firat University Journal of Social Science 2010; 20(1): 389–400. 2. Altinanahtar A. Sosyoekonomi 2016, 24(28): 11–30. 3. Sungur MA, Düzce Üniversitesi Sağlik Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi 2014; 4(2): 15–20.