Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Organ Donation in Undergraduate Medical Students of District Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Background: Organ transplant can serve as a lifesaving option for end-stage organ failure. Worldwide, with growing number of cases of organ failure, both the need & demand for the donation of organs has also increased.
Objectives: To assess the level of knowledge and explore attitude of undergraduate medical students of Peshawar towards organ donation.
Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 4th & 5th year students of a Public and Private Medical Colleges of Peshawar, KPK from January to April 2018. The 350 participants were approached through convenient sampling method. The data were collected through self-administered validated questionnaire. The data analysis was done for descriptive statistics on SPSS 21.
Results: Out of 350 participants, 324 (93%) students have filled out the questionnaire. Only 210 (64.8%) of the students had adequate cumulative awareness scores while 114 (35.2%) students had inadequate awareness scores regarding organ donation. Only 12% of the participants were motived positively for organ donation whereas 13% has refused for organ donation. The main reason for not promoting organ donation was found to be religious beliefs corresponding to 48.6%. Statistically significant correlation (P<0.001) was observed between religious beliefs and the attitude regarding organ donation promotion.
Conclusion: Though, medical students are found to have adequate knowledge but a gap is found between their knowledge and attitude towards phenomenon of organ donation. Effective actions are required to improve the awareness regarding organ donation in young doctors and medical students to translate their knowledge into definite actions. This requires modification in our educational system with the involvement of social media and religious scholars.
Keywords: Attitude, Knowledge, Medical students, Organ donation, Transplantation,