The Anchor of Traditional Culture and Medical Students' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Willingness Towards Organ Donation during Internships: A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to understand the knowledge, attitudes, and willingness of medical students in their clinical internships towards organ donation and to assess how traditional oriental culture plays a role. Methods. This study conducted an online cross-sectional survey using a cell phone application with a self-designed questionnaire based on the Delphi method. This study was conducted among medical students in their internships in hospitals in nearly 20 provinces of China. The questionnaire consisted of 17 main questions and a knowledge quiz. The results were analyzed with descriptive statistics using the software Microsoft Excel 2021 and SPSS 26. Results. A total of 225 medical students participated in this study, distributed among college, undergraduate, and postgraduate clinical internships. 96% of the medical students agreed with the value of organ donation, but the highest willingness to donate the whole body was only 38.22%. Among them, traditional culture, family values, and religious factors played important both positive and negative roles. Conclusion. Medical students have better knowledge about organ donation, but it rarely comes from professional education. Traditional concepts, family values, and religious factors play both a facilitating and hindering role, which can easily lead to moral dilemmas. Although it is not possible to make productive changes in the short term, we could still make improvements through educational changes, research breakthroughs, and institutional improvements.