The Knowledge and Thoughts of Medical Staff at Adnan Menderes University Hospital About Organ-Tissue Donation and Transplantation

OBJECTIVE: Social consciousness regarding organ donation and transplantation is an important health care problem worldwide. Medical staff and students must have adequate knowledge about this subject. The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and thoughts of staff and students about this topic.

MATERIAL and METHODS: A total of 415 medical staff and 320 students participated in the study. The organ donation and transplantation knowledge level survey was used for data collection.

RESULTS: The average age of the participants was 25.08±6.82 years. 43.5% of all participants were medical students, 34.8% were nurses, 9.7% were patient sitters, 7.6% were doctors, and 4.4% were cleaning staff. An organ donation card had been obtained by 10.3% of the study participants and 44.4% of the participants accepted to donate their organs.

CONCLUSION: Health care workers did not have a clear view and sufficient knowledge regarding organ donation. Educational, informative and thought-provoking symposia should be organized to enable comprehensive awareness in health care workers. The desired goal in organ transplantation may be achieved by increasing the number of organ donors and this can only be possible through good organization and teamwork.