The Perception of Organ Donation among Health-Care Providers in the Intensive Care Units at a Tertiary Center

The growing demand for organs continues to outpace the supply. The aim of our study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and awareness of organ donation procedures among the health-care providers in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) at a tertiary hospital. This was a questionnaire-based study conducted in December 2011 among the health-care providers at five ICUs in a tertiary teaching hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A total of 154 participants completed the questionnaire. Eighty percent of the participants acknowledged that organ donation is a legal practice in Saudi Arabia, but only 73% knew that the hospital had an organ donation policy. However, only 34% were willing to participate in a training program for organ donation. Interestingly, only 57% were willing to donate their organs. Our results suggest that more measures should be taken to educate the health-care providers regarding the concept of organ donation and the ethical and religious beliefs. Also, the policy of the hospital and the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation regarding the process of organ donation should be strongly emphasized.