Survey of medical students to assess their knowledge and attitudes toward organ transplantation and donation

Abstract

Kidney transplantation is the most preferred treatment modality for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). This study aims at understanding the awareness, attitudes, and beliefs among the medical and nonmedical students. The study population consisted of 500 medical students and 39 nonmedical controls, who were surveyed using a reliable questionnaire that examined their knowledge and attitudes. A 24-item self-administered questionnaire, which assessed the levels of knowledge, attitude regarding organ donation with dichotomous scale and demographic data were used. Of the 500 medical students who received the questionnaire, 376 (75.2%) with a mean age of 22.1 ± 2.5 years responded; 39% were male, 43.6% were Bahraini, and 32.2% were from Saudi Arabia, 51.3% were in Grades-5 and 6 and 58.8% resided in big cities. The medical students had a highly positive attitude and great willingness toward organ donation. Majority of them (75.3%) knew the treatment of ESRD, and 70.7% recognized correctly that kidney transplantation is the optimal treatment for ESRD. However, only 10.4% knew that it is performed in Bahrain since 1995. A total of 241 participants (64.3%) reported positive attitude toward living kidney donation and 71.8% expressed their agreement to donation after death. More than half (66.8%) believed that their religion permits organ donation, although 56.6% of the participants believed that there is a danger after donating a kidney. When compared to nonmedical students, there was no statistically significant difference in the attitudes toward living kidney donation (P = 0.823) or organ donation after death (P = 0.066).