Current knowledge status and attitude on heart transplantation among undergraduate medical students of a tertiary care medical institute in India

Abstract

Context: Organ transplantation can save thousands of lives as it is one of the greatest advancements of modern medical science but the process of organ donation and transplantation is very complex and multi-factorial, interplaying with- medical, legal, ethical, organizational and above all social factors. The future doctors can take up the role of promoting organ donation activity, especially the heart. Settings and Design: This cross-sectional questionnaire based survey study was conducted amongst the undergraduate medical students of our Institute, to ascertain their knowledge and ethical perception regarding orthotropic heart transplantation. Methods and Material: Students were approached in lecture halls and were asked to fill the questionnaire after explaining them the importance of this study in brief. Written consent for participation was taken from all of them. A total of 197 undergraduate students gave consent and filled the questionnaire. Statistical Analysis Used: All the quantitative variables were analyzed using mean and standard deviation and all the qualitative variables were described as numbers and percentages. Results: Nearly all the students knew the term organ donation and heart transplantation but in-depth knowledge of medical students on this topic was not good enough. Most participants (75%) considered 'Internet' as their major source of information, while only 01% regarded academic books as their source of information. This strongly highlights the point that the undergraduate medical books with curriculum is largely lacking in basic aspects of organ donation and heart transplantation. Very few medical students (4.5%) knew about the Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) working for transplant activity and also majority (82.2%) are unaware of legal aspects related to organ donation. Conclusions: Currently heart transplantation is a totally neglected topic in undergraduate medical curriculum. Inclusion of this complex but interesting topic by a short lecture or interactive seminar for undergraduate medical students may be the most cost-effective and durable innovation for the future.