203 SURVEY OF MEDICAL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES, RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, AND KNOWLEDGE OF ORGAN DONATION H. OMER TONTUS 1 , MUBERRA KARABEY 2 , NAGMAN GURDAL 2 1 Medical Education Department, Ondokuz Mayis University, Medical Faculty, Samsun, Turkey 2 Year 4 Student, Ondokuz Mayis University, Medical Faculty, Samsun, Turkey Keywords - Transplantation, organ donation, medical education, medical student, attitude, belief Received December 9 th , 2010, revised April 20 th , 2011, accepted August 24 th , 2011 Summary - We aimed to measure medical students’ attitudes to organ donation and transplantation. Health care provid- ers’ attitudes and beliefs can influence public willingness to donate organ for transplantation. What do medical students think about organ donation as future healthcare professionals? We conducted a cross-sectional survey among 143 medical students to evaluate their attitude toward organ donation and transplantation at a medical faculty. We administered a 17 item questionnaire that included items on knowledge of organ donation, attitude, beliefs and demographics. We found 42.7% of the respondents indicated that their religion restricts donation. Students were more willing to donate their own organs (39.9%) than those of their deceased relatives (4.2%). 85.3% of respondents believe organ donation is important and honourable for humanity. Although cardiology, neurology, neurosurgery and reanimation specialists are needed to determine brain death, 64.3% of students were afraid of the wrong decision on the status declared as brain death. More than 55% of respondents want to be buried without disfigurement. The results of our research suggest that a new medical education program is needed for better equipped future healthcare professionals. Today’s medical students will be the first to establish a relationship with a potential donor’s family in order to improve their attitudes towards organ donation issues. Correspondence: H. Omer Tontus, Ondokuz Mayis University, Medical Faculty, Medical Education Department, Tıp Fakultesi Dekanlik, Samsun, Turkey 55149; e-mail: otontus@hotmail.co.uk Introduction The demand for organs for transplantation continues to vastly exceed the limited supply capacity all over the world 1,2 . Despite encouraging educational programs, the waiting list for organ transplantation progressively grows as the number of donated organs remains very low. The shortage of donor organs or “the donation gap” remains the leading obstacles to transplantation 3 . In Turkey, the first kidney transplantation from a living donor was performed in 1975; the law regulating organ transplants came into effect in 1979. The diagnosis of death, which will make organ transplantation from a cadaver possible, must be made by a selected group of doctors comprising a neurologist, neurosurgeon, cardiologist and reanimation specialist. Probably the most important factor contributing to the shortage of donor organs is the lack of information on the legal and procedural details of organ donation in the popu- lation even among health care professionals. Theoretically, health care professionals should be most educated in the field of any kind of organ donation (living or deceased). This group of professionals is the most decisive link in the organ procurement process because they are the first per- sons to set up a relationship with the potential living donor ORGANS, TISSUES & CELLS, (14), 203-206, 2011