title: Knowledge of the brain death concept by personnel in Spanish and Latin-American healthcare centers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The knowledge and acceptance of the concept of brain death (BD) among health care personnel is fundamental.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the level of understanding of the BD concept among personnel in Spanish and Latin American healthcare centers and to determine the factors affecting this attitude.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 12 hospitals and 32 primary care centers in 4 countries within the International Collaborative Donor Project were selected (Spain, Mexico, Cuba and Costa Rica (n=4378)).
  
  
  RESULTS
  62% of the personnel (n=2714) understood BD and believed that this was the death of an individual. Of the rest, 30% (n=1333) did not understand it and the remaining 8% (n=331) believed it did not mean the death of a patient. 83% (n=931) of physicians understood BD, compared to 75% (n=895) of nurses, 55% (n=299) of healthcare assistants, 53% (n=108) of non-healthcare university-educated personnel and 36% (n=481) of those without a university education (p<0.001). 68% (n=1084) of Mexicans understood BD compared to 66% (n=134) of Cubans, 58% (n=1411) of Spaniards, and 52% (n=85) (p<0.001) of Costa Ricans. There were significant relationships between knowledge of the concept and the following: type of healthcare center (p<0.001), clinical service (p<0.001), having spoken about organ donation within the family (p<0.001) and one's partner's attitude to the subject (p<0.001). A direct relationship has been found between understanding the concept and attitude toward deceased donation (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The understanding of BD by personnel from healthcare centers was not as good as expected. There were marked differences depending on job category.
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Surgery, University of Murcia, Murcia - Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ríos
authors.forename: Ana Isabel
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: López-Navas
authors.forename: Marcos A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ayala-García
authors.forename: Maria José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sebastián
authors.forename: Anselmo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdo-Cuza
authors.forename: Jeannina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alán
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martínez-Alarcón
authors.forename: Ector Jaime
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Ramírez
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Palacios
authors.forename: Juliette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suárez-López
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Castellanos
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.forename: Adrián
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nieto
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ramírez
authors.forename: Pascual
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parrilla
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001926:Brain Death; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D007843:Latin America; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D013030:Spain; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement