Knowledge and Attitude Toward Brain Death and Organ Donation Among Anesthesiology and Reanimation Professionals

Abstract

Purpose: We aimed to establish the basic data for the improvement of the weak points by determining the knowledge and attitude of professionals in anesthesiology and reanimation or/and intensive care, who are 50% responsible for the diagnosis of brain death.

Methods: After the approval of the ethics committee, questionnaires were sent to participants. The data were collected electronically. The questionnaire consists of 89 questions.

Results: A total of 564 (22.56%) completed questionnaires were returned. The sex distribution of the respondents was 207 (36.7%) female and 357 (63.3%) male; the mean age was 37 (SD, 7) years. Among participants, 87.2% reported needing ancillary testing for the diagnosis of brain death. Nevertheless, the rate of those who never needed ancillary testing was high among the participants who were specialized and working in hospitals covered by Erzurum RCC (31.2% and 26.7%, respectively) (P < .05). A total of 55.3% of respondents reported considering brain death and 41.9% reported considering circulatory arrest at the time of death. Participants' religious beliefs are not against to organ donation (93.4%). However, the percentage of respondents who thought that families refuse organ donation because of their religion was 84.1%. Suggestions for increasing organ transplants from deceased donors include education (54.1%), religious support (21.4%), use of media resources (25%), government support and legislative changes (10.1% and 7.6%, respectively), and education of health workers (9.4%).

Conclusion: The most important way to solve this problem is to give adequate education to main stakeholders. This is the most effective method to improve the public's behavior.