Awareness of Eye Donation Among Medical Students

Abstract

BACKGROUND The blindness due to corneal aetiology accounts for 0.9% of blindness in India. Corneal transplantation is the major treatment option for them. The lower rate of eye donation is the major obstacle to this procedure. Twenty-two thousand eyes are collected every year in India, which only serve half the requirement of corneal transplantations. Medical students who are future medical practitioners can be a good motivator for this eye donation. MATERIALS AND METHODS To assess the awareness of eye donation among medical students, we did a cross-sectional study enrolling 112 fourth year MBBS students on the occasion of eye donation fortnight in the year 2015. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was given to each student to conduct the study. RESULTS All the students knew that eyes can be donated after death, but only 68.7% knew that the ideal time of donation was within 6 hours of death. Most students (88.4%) were willing to donate eyes. Eye donation can give vision to the blind was the motivational force for eye donation according to most of the students. Lack of awareness (87.5%) and objection by family members (61.6%) were the main perceived reason by the students for not pledging the eyes for donation. Television, newspapers, magazines and posters were found to be the important sources of information about eye donation. CONCLUSION The study revealed that though the majority of medical students were aware of eye donation practices, still there is lack of knowledge among students, which need to be considered. As the medical students are one of the knowledge group of community, their perception regarding non-donation of eyes by the people can be considered, while creating awareness about eye donation.

Knowledge and awareness of eye donation among undergraduate medical students

“…This questionnaire is designed referring various publications related to eye donation. [7][8][9] A note of the use of information only for research purposes in mentioned clearly in the questionnaire. The questionnaire includes three sections.…”

Knowledge and Attitude Towards Corneal Donation

“…Overall, the current participants demonstrated a decreased level of knowledge in many areas compared to other international studies, as the participants performed poorly in the knowledge test. 19 , 25 Data from the current study showed that relying only on media to increase the knowledge of medical students regarding eye donation is not sufficient. Therefore, including different curative and preventative features of corneal blindness through basic eye health care in the curriculum is greatly needed.…”

“…For instance, only 18% of the study participants knew that the perfect time for donation is within 6 hours after death, while similar study reported higher level of knowledge among students (68.7%). 19 Besides, the mean score of the participants in the test of background knowledge was just 3.24 out of 12 that shows profound lack of knowledge regarding eye donation in our study participants.…”

“…25 Overall, our study participant demonstrated a decreased level of knowledge in many areas in comparison to other international studies as our participants had a much lower percentage of correctly answered questions relative to many international studies. 19,25 Data from our study shows that relying only on media to increase the knowledge of eye donation among medical students is not enough. Therefore, employing different curative and preventative features of corneal blindness with basic eye health care in the curriculum is greatly needed.…”

“…For instance, 66 (47%) participants knew that people who die from AIDS cannot donate their eyes; only 18 (13%) knew that the perfect time for donation is within 2–6 hours after death, while a similar study revealed a higher level of knowledge among students (68.7%). 19 Moreover, the mean knowledge score of the participants was just 3.24 out of 12, which shows a profound lack of knowledge of eye donation.…”