The knowledge of patients on dialysis, healthcare professionals, students and the general population about organ donation and transplantation

Abstract

Introduction: In Brazil, the number of transplants serves less than 50% of the population on the waitlist. The shortage of donors is multifactorial, and one of the causes is the insecurity of the brain death diagnosis and the unpreparedness of healthcare professionals. Objective: Check the knowledge of the patients on the matter of dialysis, healthcare professionals and students, and the overall people about organ donation and transplantation. Methods: Descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study on the knowledge of organ donation and transplantation of 120 individuals in the city of São João del-Rei. Results: 90% of the general population could not answer whether they would be a donor and only 3.3% answered correctly about the legislation. Among healthcare professionals, 90% believe that the approach on this matter during grad school was insufficient. All students answered incorrectly about the viable organs for live transplantation. Among patients, only 16.7% recognize legislation for organ donation. Discussion: Lack of information is one the main causes of the gap between the demand for transplants and the number of donors, and the level of schooling is an important variable in the process. In addition, the lack of preparation of healthcare professionals gives prominence to the misinformation situation. Brazil has the largest public system of organ transplantation in the world but reaches much lower donor rates when compared to other countries. Conclusions: It is crucial that professionals are better trained during their academic and professional training. Furthermore, it is notable the relevance of the campaigns that aim at greater population knowledge.

Keywords

• organ donation
• organ transplantation
• brain death