Studying The Knowledge and Awareness of Medical Students about Brain Death and Organ Donation

Abstract

Abstract Introduction and objective: Organ donation is affected by brain death, where the time of death must be determined in an accurate way, and confirmed by important medical tests, and this allows organ donation without medical error and does not conflict with human ethics and values. This research aims to assess the knowledge of the concept of brain death, the attitude, and the level of awareness towards Organ donation and transplantation among medical students in Syrian Arab Republic. Materials and methods The research design is an observational and descriptive study of the cross-sectional study style. The required sample size was 200 that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The samples were collected in the period between 7/23/2023 and 8/11/2023. Results The total number of the sample was (200) male and female students from various medical colleges (56% males, 44% females), the largest number of whom were from the sixth year, as they numbered 95 male and female students at a rate of 47.5%, followed by fifth, fourth, third, and second year students. And the first (35%, 7, 4.5%, 4.5%, 1.5%, respectively), most of the students were from Spu University (89.5%), and most of the students were from the city (82%), most of the students had a very good economic situation (42.5%), EEG, lateral brain ultrasound, and radioisotope scintigraphy are the most common supportive tests used to diagnose brain death, with rates (23.8%, 20%, and 16.6%, respectively). Conclusion There is no previous study conducted in Syria about students' awareness of brain death and organ donation, as our study shows that knowledge was in an appropriate range, but despite this, it is necessary to raise the level of understanding and knowledge among Syrian students in order for it to improve, and this can be achieved through Exposure during clinical training and formal study to standards and techniques for brain death diagnosis and transplantation surgery and principles.