Health care professionals: what do they know about organ donation?

Although donor detection is influenced by the legal system and family refusal, underreporting due to erroneous knowledge of donation criteria and a lack of familiarity with the procedure among medical professionals is also a contributing factor.

To investigate the outlook of critical health professionals participating in our postgraduate courses (2001 to 2006) about organ donation.

We administered an in-depth survey, evaluating attitudes, knowledge, roles, and experiences related to organ and tissue donation and transplantation, to 350 participants before and after the postgraduate courses.

We collected 690 surveys from 350 attendees. In the first survey, 280 (80%) of them showed a positive attitude toward organ donation, 210 (60%) toward tissue donation, and 24 (7%) declared lack of knowledge about the subject. Only 175 (50%) had relatives who had donated organs. Sixty-three participants (18%) believed brain death is not equivalent to death, 176 (50%) claimed a lack of adequate training in this area, and 211 (60%) felt uncomfortable approaching families for donation. Only 88 (25%) were able to state the percentage of people receiving an organ in Spain, and 36 (10%) reported the correct number. After the course, the participants declared progress in attitudes toward and comfort levels with donation. Furthermore, family refusal in our hospital decreased from 33% to 8% to 11%.

Continuous training of health care professionals about transplant, the legal system, and communication skills are crucial for successful organ and tissue donation.