Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo 2014 Volume 142, Issue 3-4, Pages: 213-218
https://doi.org/10.2298/SARH1404213V
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Attitudes and knowledge of nurses on organ legacy and transplantation
Vlaisavljević Željko (Department of Gastroenterology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade)
Milutinović Dragana (Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Novi Sad)
Miličić Biljana (Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, Clinical Center of Serbia Department of Medical Statistics, School of Dental Medicine, Belgrade)
Ješić-Vukićević Rada (Department of Gastroenterology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade + Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade)
Introduction. Nurses represent an important link in mediating between the
potential donors and their relatives’ consent to organ and tissue
transplantation. The message of the Health Department to potential donors
about the importance of organ donation was supported by the Serbian Orthodox
Church, the army and other institutions through media campaigns. Nurses could
contribute to this action by their personal example. Objective. The aim of
this study was identification and bivariate analysis of nurse attitude about
organ donation, their knowledge about the importance of transplantation as
treatment methods, as well as the connection between work experience and
education level with the formation of attitudes and new skills. Methods. In
this cross-sectional study, 291 nurses from the Clinical Center of Serbia,
Belgrade, filled in the questionnaire on the effect of correlation between
the length of the service and level of education on knowledge and attitudes
toward organ transplantation and organ donation. Results. Out of 291
respondents, 67.4% have completed the nursing school and 32.6% have higher
education. The majority (63.9%) of respondents knew that the EEG was the most
valid method for determining brain death. The question regarding the
possibility of buying organs was answered correctly by 68.7% of respondents.
A large majority (91%) would accept organ transplant, if needed, but only
32.0% would be organ donors, and only 0.3% owned a donor card. In contrast,
one third of nurses were already blood donors. Conclusion. In case of
necessary transplantation, nurses would accept someone else’s organ, though
they do not possess donor cards, but just few would donate their organs. It
is possible that prejudice arises from ignorance and distrust in the health
policy of the Republic of Serbia. However, besides negative attitude, nurses
have expressed interest in learning and professional development in the area
of transplantation.
Keywords: attitudes, donor, knowledge, nurses, transplantation