Attitude of undergraduate nursing students towards organ donation

Abstract

Aims Shortage of organ donation has become a great concern globally. An opting-in policy for organ donation is adopted in Hong Kong. The demand of patients who are waiting for organ transplantation is greatly outweighed the supply of organ donations. Literature showed a strong relationship between the training of nurses and donation rates. Nurses with a positive attitude and adequate knowledge may have a positive impact on the general public's attitudes to organ donation as well as providing support to families and care for potential donors. This study aimed to explore attitude of undergraduate nursing students towards organ donation.

Methods An exploratory qualitative study with purposive sampling of undergraduate general nursing students was conducted in 2014. Individual face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. All audio-taped interviews were transcribed for content analysis until data saturation.

Results Among 24 participants, 22 of them have positive attitude towards organ donation. Though 17 nursing students expressed their willingness to be a potential donor following death, only nine of them had signed consent for donation. Personal and family related factors were two major categories affecting their attitude towards organ donation. Concerns about appearance and body integrity, self-health status, proper usage of donated organs and professional influence were subcategories of personal factor. Whereas families' cultural belief and willingness of organ donation were subcategories of family factor. However, inadequate knowledge regarding to local organ donation policy and concepts of brain death were found.

Conclusions Overall, the participants showed positive attitude and willingness with insufficient knowledge towards organ donation. The training institutions are suggested to review the existing curriculum to enhance nursing students' education and knowledge regarding organ donation policy and transplantation issues. Recommendations for future study of other healthcare professionals to enhance organ donation rates are advised.