Medical Students' Views on Cadaver and Organ Donation.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Transplantation Medicine
• Bioethics

Background:

• Organ and cadaver donation are vital for medical advancement and education.
• Medical students' initial exposure to clinical practice often involves cadavers.
• Understanding student attitudes towards donation is essential for future medical professionals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the attitudes of medical students towards organ and cadaver donation.
• To compare the willingness of male and female students regarding both donation types.

Main Methods:

• Fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year medical students at Kafkas University Faculty of Medicine participated.
• Students responded to sixteen statements concerning cadaver and organ donation.
• Chi-squared test was used to compare responses between male and female students.

Main Results:

• A statistically significant difference was observed between genders for only one statement (P=.043).
• A high agreement rate was found for 'I would donate my organs' among students.
• Agreement with 'I would donate my body as a cadaver' was notably low for both male and female students.

Conclusions:

• Medical students' awareness and attitudes towards organ and cadaver donation are significant.
• There is a clear reluctance towards cadaver donation that requires attention.
• Educating medical students is key to informing the public and overcoming donation hesitancy.