Attitude and Knowledge of Intensive Care Nurses About Organ Donation

Abstract

Objective: Intensive care nurses make a significant contribution to the donation process by providing communication between donor and recipient families. Hence, their knowledge and attitude are important to increase the rate of organ donation. This research aimed to determine the knowledge and attitudes of intensive care nurses about organ donation. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional design. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitudes of intensive care nurses about organ donation. The number of samples was determined according to the nurse layer weight of these hospitals: 311 volunteer intensive care nurses formed the sample. The data were collected using a valid and reliable “Organ Donation Attitude Scale” and “Organ Donation Information Scale”. Results: The mean age of the nurses was 27.28±6.08. The majority of the intensive care nurses included in the study were young, their attitudes towards organ donation were positive, and their knowledge on organ donation was at a good level. Most of the nurses did not have an organ donor card (98.4%). Positive organ donation attitude score in young nurses (p=0.012), male nurses (p=0.049), nurses with low-education level (p=0.002), nurses working in a private university or training/research hospital (p=0.007) and nurses working in neurosurgery, emergency intensive care (p=0.001) was lower. ODI score was higher in nurses with undergraduate and higher education (p=0.001), nurses working at education/research university hospital and state university hospital (p=0.003). There was an inverse correlation between negative and positive attitude about organ donation (p=0.029). Conclusion: Some clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of nurses are important in organ donation attitudes. However, although it is recommended that nurses with a high level of education work in this field to have a high level of knowledge about organ donation, this is not enough. Continuous training of nurses on this subject is required after graduation.

Keywords

• organ donation
• knowledge
• attitudes
• intensive care unit nurse