Organ donationAttitudes to Brain Death and Organ Procurement Among University Students and Critical Care Physicians in Poland
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
The survey protocol was approved by our Ethical Committee and by all Department heads. The study population consisted of undergraduate university students and critical care physicians. The students in their third and fourth year were randomly selected from 7 different departments during the spring semester of 2007. In addition, first year medical (preclinical) students were also included in this study. Medical students with clinical experience were excluded from the study and underwent a
Results
The demographic characteristics of responders are presented in Table 1. The total number of students was 989 and physicians was 139. Respondents who were mostly females (62%) in the student group were between 18 and 30 years old. A majority (92%) claimed affiliation to the Catholic Church. The group of physicians consisted of 59% women, of whom 81% were aged 30 to 60 years and 83% were Catholics with the remainder claiming no religious affiliation.
The understanding of brain death is presented
Discussion
The results of this study revealed that a high willingness to donate one's own organs among the student population (85%) as well as among physicians (93%). This rate was similar to data reported by others: 80% in Ohio,6 88% in Italy,3 and 69% in Brazil.10 Such a high rate was recorded despite the uncertainty regarding the criteria of brain death determination. Furthermore, students were unable to properly identify a brain-dead patient and half of them considered the patient in this scenario to
References (12)
- et al.
Trends in organ donation and transplantation in the United States 1996–2005
Am J Transplant
(2007) - et al.
Changing attitude to organ donation and transplantation in university students during the years of medical school in Italy
Transplant Proc
(2005) - et al.
Assessing medical students knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding organ donation
Transplant Proc
(2006) - et al.
Death and organ procurement: public beliefs and attitudes
Soc Sci Med
(2004) - et al.
Organ donation and transplantation in Brazil: university students awareness and opinions
Transplant Proc
(2004) Doctor-politicians relationship turns sour in Poland
Lancet
(2007)
Cited by (8)
Brain death and organ donation: A crisis of public trust
2018, Christian BioethicsDo Spanish medical students understand the concept of brain death?
2018, Progress in TransplantationSeeing for themselves – healthcare professionals’ views about the presence of family members during brainstem death testing
2017, Journal of Clinical NursingUK Polish Migrant Attitudes Toward Deceased Organ Donation: Findings from a Pilot Study
2015, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health