Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena

Abstract

Despite the increase in organ donors over the years, waiting lists have higher demand than supply. In order to encourage organ donation, it would be appropriate to spread the culture of donation from training at a young age. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and will of nursing students at the Modena office about organ donation, through a questionnaire containing 27 items. The results shows that 54.1 % of them are donors, but only 32.7 % are on a donation list. 33.7 % are not aware of what the family thinks about whether or not they are donors. 33.9% of first and 31.7 % of second-year students are familiar with the organ withdrawal procedure, while 25.4 % (first) and 36.5 % (second) know the criteria for declaring brain death. Of both subjects among third-year students, 78.4 % said they knew about the procedure, while 66.2 % said they knew the criteria. Only 26.1 % of students in all three years consider the information received in class on the subject to be sufficient. In general, students are inclined to donate, but they should be facilitating enrollment in donation lists and encouraging them to talk about it in the family. Third-year students have more knowledge than first and second year students, in particular on the organ sampling procedure and the criteria for declaring brain death. However, students in all three years of the course do not consider the information received in class to be sufficient. It would therefore be important to integrate the knowledge of all students by giving the opportunity to participate in seminar courses or lectures that deal with the role of the nurse in the process of organ donation and the criteria for establishing brain death.