Evaluating awareness and perceptions of organ donation among paramedical and nursing students in an eastern Indian tertiary care hospital: focus on transplant coordinator's role: A cross- sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: End stage diseases warrant organ transplantation as the ultimate life saving treatment modality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and assess the level of knowledge, attitude and perception pertaining to various technical, legal and social aspects of the topic of organ donation, including the role of ‘Transplant coordinator’, among college students of nursing and allied paramedical courses in a tertiary care hospital in West Bengal. Materials and methods: The study was carried out in nursing and paramedical students of a tertiary care hospital in West Bengal. It was based on a questionnaire which sought information on the background knowledge about organ donation, knowledge about legislative provisions and organizational set up governing the procedures of organ donation in India and individual and impersonal attitudes and perceptions about the subject. Results: The study results show that most of the participants had a preliminary acquaintance with the concept of organ donation. The source of information for our participants were largely from social media (36%), television (23%). Lacunae were noted regarding the concept of living organ donation regarding the knowledge regarding ‘Brain death’ and the procedure of its evaluation, 33% of our respondents answered correctly. Mere 19.6 % of our subjects were aware of the existence of a legislation regarding organ donation in our country. Role of family members’ consent was found to be more important than individual consent for pledging organ donation.41 % subjects had some incomplete knowledge about the role of transplant coordinators in organ donation. The study brings out the inadequate knowledge persisting even among the nursing and paramedical students about the complete role of a transplant coordinator. Conclusion: Knowledge about technical and legal aspects of organ donation is inadequate among the subjects. Social media can act as a powerful tool for awareness generation among the masses. There is grossly inadequate knowledge about the proper role of transplant coordinator. Given the opportunity of proper training, the nursing and paramedical students can be encouraged to take up the role of a transplant coordinator of the institute and serve their role in the whole process efficiently.

Keywords

• transplant coordinator
• organ donation
• awareness
• knowledge