A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study to Assess Knowledge Regarding Brain Death among Health Professionals in India

Abstract

Context: Brain-dead donors are one of the largest sources of organs for transplant. However, lack of knowledge about brain death may lead to delayed declaration of brain death. Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge about brain death among health professionals in Maharashtra state of India. Settings and Design: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. Subjects and Methods: The study assessed the knowledge of health professionals in Maharashtra state of India regarding brain death. Statistical Analysis Used: The data obtained were fed into Microsoft Excel 2010 and subsequently analyzed on SPSS. Results: Four hundred health professionals participated in the study between 2015 and 2017. The study found that the knowledge of brain death increased with age while no correlation with gender was observed (Pearson’s “r” = 0.7677). Seventy percent of the participants were found to have knowledge about the brain-dead category of organ donor, the highest knowledge being among the doctor category of participants and lowest among the nurse participants. Twenty-six percent of the respondents were aware of the legality of brain death. A positive correlation was found between medical college as source of knowledge and correctness of knowledge of brain death (Pearson’s “r” = 0.9789, Spearman’s rho “rs ” = 0.94286, P (two-tailed) = 0.0048, statistically significant). Conclusions: Medical curricula should include details of brain death-related organ donation. A health professional aware of brain death will be able to counsel the family of brain-dead donor for organ donation leading to increased availability of organs for transplantation.