Minoru Murakami1, Shingo Fukuma1, Masaya Ikezoe2, Mariko Nakamura3, Yosuke Yamamoto1, Shin Yamazaki1, Shunichi Fukuhara4. 1. Department of Healthcare Epidemiology, School of Public Health in the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. 2. Department of Nephrology, Saku Central Hospital, Saku, Japan. 3. Center for Medical Education, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. 4. Center for Innovative Research for Communities and Clinical Excellence (CIRC2LE), Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Organ shortage for transplantation remains a serious global issue. We assessed the effects of an educational program on changing attitudes of medical students towards deceased organ donation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a non-randomized trial involving medical students who had not previously signed a donor card. Third-year medical students (n=86, program group) received an information pamphlet followed by a 60-min classroom lecture by a transplant physician who was himself a kidney transplant recipient and finally another information pamphlet containing a donor card. First-year students (n=87, control group) received the same two pamphlets only. The primary outcome was signing a donor card. The secondary outcomes included willingness to sign a donor card, willingness to donate organs, family discussion about deceased organ donation, and knowledge. Outcomes were measured by questionnaires before and after the intervention. RESULTS: A higher proportion of students of the program group signed a donor card than the pamphlet group (8.1% vs. 0%, respectively). After propensity score adjustment, the program was associated with higher proportion of willingness to sign a donor card (91.9% vs. 73.6%; adjusted proportion ratio 1.28 [95% CI 1.11-1.48]), family discussion (18.6% vs. 6.9%; 2.85 [1.15-7.03]), and increased knowledge. There were no significant differences between the two groups in willingness to donate organs after brain death (64.0% vs. 60.9%; 1.12 [0.90-1.40]) and cardiac death (77.9% vs. 71.3%; 1.11 [0.93-1.33]). CONCLUSIONS: The educational program delivered by a transplant physician and a recipient may alter the attitudes of medical students towards deceased organ donation.
BACKGROUND: Organ shortage for transplantation remains a serious global issue. We assessed the effects of an educational program on changing attitudes of medical students towards deceased organ donation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a non-randomized trial involving medical students who had not previously signed a donor card. Third-year medical students (n=86, program group) received an information pamphlet followed by a 60-min classroom lecture by a transplant physician who was himself a kidney transplant recipient and finally another information pamphlet containing a donor card. First-year students (n=87, control group) received the same two pamphlets only. The primary outcome was signing a donor card. The secondary outcomes included willingness to sign a donor card, willingness to donate organs, family discussion about deceased organ donation, and knowledge. Outcomes were measured by questionnaires before and after the intervention. RESULTS: A higher proportion of students of the program group signed a donor card than the pamphlet group (8.1% vs. 0%, respectively). After propensity score adjustment, the program was associated with higher proportion of willingness to sign a donor card (91.9% vs. 73.6%; adjusted proportion ratio 1.28 [95% CI 1.11-1.48]), family discussion (18.6% vs. 6.9%; 2.85 [1.15-7.03]), and increased knowledge. There were no significant differences between the two groups in willingness to donate organs after brain death (64.0% vs. 60.9%; 1.12 [0.90-1.40]) and cardiac death (77.9% vs. 71.3%; 1.11 [0.93-1.33]). CONCLUSIONS: The educational program delivered by a transplant physician and a recipient may alter the attitudes of medical students towards deceased organ donation.
Authors: Taylor M Coe; Trevor J McBroom; Sarah A Brownlee; Karen Regan; Stephen Bartels; Noelle Saillant; Heidi Yeh; Emil Petrusa; Leigh Anne Dageforde Journal: J Med Educ Curric Dev Date: 2021-07-21