title: Kidney organ donation knowledge and attitudes among health care professionals: findings from a Greek general hospital.
abstract: Identified barriers of organ donation advancement include lack of knowledge, personal beliefs, and a negative attitude from health professionals. This article reports on current knowledge and attitudes toward kidney donation among nurses and physicians in a Greek general hospital. A previously used questionnaire was applied. More physicians than nurses were donor card holders, with registration rates being lower than expected. Over half of the participants did not consider themselves well informed about registering as a kidney donor. Older nurses differed significantly from younger ones in their willingness to become live donors if an adult required a kidney. Nurses who were blood donors had higher odds ratio of feeling well informed when compared with nurses who were not blood donors. Integrating organ donation issues into undergraduate health science curricula and continuous education interdisciplinary programs is essential in increasing awareness, eradicating negativism, and reversing inertia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Blood Donation, University General Hospital of Heraklion, 71003 Crete, Greece. symvouman@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Emmanouil K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Symvoulakis
authors.forename: Zoi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tsimtsiou
authors.forename: Stamatis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Papaharitou
authors.forename: Dimitra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Palitzika
authors.forename: Adelais
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Markaki
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stavroulaki
authors.forename: Myfanwy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement