Developing a Standardized Education Program on Deceased Organ Donation for Pre-medical Students

Abstract

Introduction It is necessary to deliver essential knowledge on deceased organ donation to medical and premedical students who will play an important role in the field of deceased organ donation in the future. To increase awareness and knowledge on deceased organ donation through a systemic education, we developed educational content and contents delivery pathways for pre-medical and medical students and evaluated its educational effect.

Method On- and off-line self-learning aids materials on 7 topics on deceased organ donation were generated and posted on the Vitallink Academy YouTube site. Pre- and post-education questionnaires (32 and 15 questions, respectively) were developed using a web-based survey platform. The survey consisted of items related to awareness, knowledge, and attitude to deceased organ donation. These surveys were conducted before and immediately after the education process. The education was proceeded according to the following 3 steps (1) Group study sessions on selected topics, (2) Poster submission on the given topic by each group and excellent poster selection by the organizing committee, and (3) Excellent poster presentation and Q&A.

Results A total of 141 students in the first grade at the premedical course at the Seoul National University College of Medicine participated in this program. Even though 96% of students had heard about deceased organ-tissue donation, only 2.1% said that they know about it well. 33.3% of students showed interest in the deceased organ-tissue donation-related issues. 24.2% agreed that anyone who was diagnosed with brain death should donate. Students will agree to donate if their family member had registered (88.9%) or if the person had expressed wishes to donate while alive (63.6%). Most students (83.8%) said that courtesy for deceased donors is necessary or very necessary through funeral support services (35.4%), and the establishment of the memorial park or memorable monument (22.2%). Interest in deceased organ-tissue donation-related issues increased from 33.3% to 84.9% by education (P<0.001). The proportion of students with a positive attitude toward organ-tissue donation was increased from 74.7% to 97.7% (P<0.001). Their attitude toward deceased donation evaluated by expressing willingness to organ-tissue donation also increased from 76.8% to 96.5% (P<0.001). The proportion of accepting brain death as a death increased from 61.6% to 89.5% (P<0.001). Moreover, 81.4% of students had changed in minds and planned to sign up for brain death organ donation registration.

Conclusion Among many avenues of improving public awareness in deceased organ and tissue donation, target-specific education could be the best way in increasing family agreement in countries adapting the Opt-in system. Significant improvements were observed in knowledge and awareness which is enough to bring changes in attitude when we applied our newly developed education program to a group of premedical students.