Knowledge, Attitudes, and Willingness Towards Organ Donation Among Operating Room Nurses in Sichuan, China: A...

Despite significant progress in organ donation programs worldwide, there remains an imbalance between the global demand for and availability of organs. While healthcare professionals play an important role in organ donation, operating room nurses, due to their direct involvement in transplant-related procedures such as organ retrieval and transplantation surgery, play an important role, yet their perspectives remain underexplored. This study aims to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and willingness towards organ donation among nurses in the operating room.

A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 15, 2024, to April 25, 2024, at four tertiary hospitals in Sichuan Province, all of which are accredited for organ transplantation procedures. Demographic data, knowledge, attitudes, and willingness towards organ donation were collected from operating theatre nurses through a questionnaire. Using snowball sampling via WeChat, we disseminated an electronic questionnaire to operating room nurses across the selected hospitals. Adequate knowledge was defined as achieving 70% or more of the maximum possible score.

A total of 502 nurses were included in the study, of whom 442 (88.05%) were female. Furthermore, 230 (45.82%) of the participants had been employed in the field for over a decade. The mean knowledge and attitude scores were 7.57/10 and 105.32/154, respectively. While only 16.14% were unwilling to donate, nearly half (49.6%) remained undecided, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the total attitude score (OR = 1.037, 95% CI: [1.024-1.050], P < 0.001), participation in voluntary blood donation (OR = 1.564, 95% CI: [1.013-2.415], P = 0.044), registration for organ donation (OR = 6.056, 95% CI: [1.514-24.225], P = 0.011), and discussions about organ donation with family members (OR = 2.898, 95% CI: [1.818-4.621], P < 0.001) were independently associated with a willingness to donate.

Nurses in operating room had adequate knowledge and neutral attitudes, particularly concerning family consent and concerns over organ allocation towards organ donation.