Introduction: Health care professional (HCPs) in critical care units are instrumental in detection of deceased donors. Educating this frontline staff members is crucial for the establishment of a successful deceased donor programme in Sri Lanka. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitudes of HCPs and evaluate the impact of a one-day workshop on deceased donor detection and maintenance. The goal of this workshop was to encourage HCPs to notify the institutional donor coordinator upon detecting a potential donor. This project was developed as part of ISN-TTS sister transplant centre level B program, in close collaboration with Donation and Transplantation Institute (DTI) and the University of Barcelona, Spain.
Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive analytical study, doctors and nurses working in ICUs and emergency units’ island wide (21 hospitals) in Sri Lanka were included. Institutional transplant coordinators were not included. Data collection was done by a self-administered questionnaire in January 2023. In total twenty questions were analysed; 14 based on the knowledge and 6 on attitudes/willingness towards deceased donation. Same questionnaire was given twice T1 prior to the educational workshops and afterwards(T2).
Results: A total of 198 HCPs completed both questionnaires - pre-test (T1) and post-test (T2) out of which 125 were nurses and 73 doctors. At the T1- overall 43% of the participants had poor knowledge regarding deceased donation scoring < 50% whereas only 18% of the participants demonstrated good knowledge obtaining a score >75%. Following the workshop those obtaining a score of <50% reduced to 20% (thus more than 50% improved their knowledge). More than 42.5% were found to have good knowledge after the workshop. This showed almost a 58% improvement. Overall there was a positive attitude of 74.7% towards deceased donation. 35% still believed that organ donation can result in body disfigurement. Also 33% still think that despite having a potential donor in the ICU that active approach of the relatives will not happen. Also 48.5% of the attendees expressed that despite willingness to donate that they have not expressed that to their immediate family members.
Conclusion: The study showed that educational programme increases the knowledge and favourable attitude toward organ donation. It is suggested to hold targeted educational courses to improve understanding of HCP of this new concept of organ donation. Also, It was shown that there should be a key donation person with sound knowledge is required to be in hospital to approach the relatives.