Publication:

Awareness and attitude about organ and body donation among medical students and faculty members

Background Deh daan, body donation is an act of bestowing one’s body after death to medical college for research and education. Importance of this is also written in our ancient literatures. Knowledge, attitude and behavior of healthcare professionals are important factors in fostering an environment that can encourage and promote organ donation among the entire population. Medical students are the future doctors of the country, and faculty members as a guide and knowledge providers, their positive attitude and high level of knowledge can create a positive environment and promote organ donation.

Methods A descriptive cross-sectional type of study was carried out among 360 undergraduate medical students and faculty of Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in South Delhi using self-administered, predesigned, pretested semi-structured questionnaire. Of these 360 undergraduate medical students and faculties, 60 faculty and equal number of students from each year (60/year) were randomly selected.

Results Out of 360 study subjects 222 (63.7%) were male and 138 (36.3%) were female. Almost all respondents were aware of term body donation (88.1%) and organ donation (95.6%). Majority (82.2%) of respondents had correct knowledge regarding time duration for viability of organ donation though the knowledge regarding age limit in donating organ was poor. Majority (87.8%) respondents were willing to support organ donation, almost equal among male (87.4%) and female (88.4%) but only 13.6% were willing to take pledge for organ donation.

Conclusions Through regular seminars on organ donation and body donation the medical fraternity can be kept updated on developments in the transplantation fields and research. This may help them counsel their patients and address their anxieties regarding organ and body donation in a better way.