An Imperative Need to Change Organ Donation and Transplant Curriculum Results of a Nationwide United Kingdom Junior Doctor Survey Abdul R. Hakeem, 1 Rajiv Dave, 1 K. Raj Prasad, 1 Krishna V. Menon, 1 Andrew Lewington, 2 Bimbi Fernando, 3 Hilary Sanfey, 4 and Niaz Ahmad 1 Background. Awareness among the medical students and junior doctors about organ donation and transplantation (ODT) may play an important role in increasing organ donor pool. This study surveys the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of ODTamong the U.K. junior doctors and attempts to identify their educational needs. To our knowledge, this is first such study in the United Kingdom. Methods. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 1,696 junior doctors (809 foundation and 887 core trainees). A 36-point questionnaire explored the junior doctor’ s knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward ODT. Results. There were 523 respondents (30.8%). Majority were foundation trainees (58.9%). Only 29.6% had previous exposure to transplantation, which reflected in their poor knowledge on the basics of ODT. Only 47.0% of the respondents were aware that consent from next of kin or family is sought for all deceased organ donation. Those registered as organ donor (69.8%) had better knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes in comparison to those not registered. Majority (84.1%) felt that they were inadequately exposed to ODT, and 96.8% stated that ODT should be part of undergraduate curriculum. Conclusion. Junior doctors in the United Kingdom have limited knowledge about ODT. Although subjected to investigators bias, the results demonstrate that junior doctors’ perceptions and attitudes toward ODT were favorable. Majority felt that their ODT knowledge was inadequate and suggested the need for a change in undergraduate ODT curriculum. Increasing knowledge and awareness among junior doctors may help to improve the continuing organ shortage for transplantation. (Transplantation 2015;99: 771–785) S hortage of organ donors remains a fundamental limiting factor for transplantation in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. 1-3 Three patients die everyday in the United Kingdom while waiting for organs. 4 A number of strategies have been adapted to overcome this organ deficit. 5-7 One among them includes implementing the recommendations of the Organ Donation Taskforce which was laid out in 2008 and has achieved its stated objective of increasing deceased organ donation by 50% in 5 years (2013). 5-8 Although some of these strategies have been beneficial in improving donation rates, the continuing increase in waiting list means the overall effect on transplantation rates have been modest. 9 A recent report from the National Health Service Blood and Transplant aims to prioritize these strategies and the top two among them were: to promote public behavior toward donation and to incorporate organ donation and transplantation (ODT) into the schools’ curricula. 10 Healthcare professionals have a vital role to play in iden- tifying potential organ donors, approaching families for con- sent and promoting donation among the public. 11 Numerous studies have demonstrated that if healthcare professionals undertake these roles effectively, they have a direct effect on Received 12 May 2014. Revision requested 4 June 2014. Accepted 18 July 2014. 1 Division of Surgery, Department of Transplantation, St. James’ University Hospital NHS Trust, Beckett Street, Leeds, United Kingdom. 2 Department of Renal Medicine, St. James University Hospital NHS Trust, Beckett Street, Leeds, United Kingdom. 3 Division of Surgery, Department of Transplantation, Royal Free London NHS Trust, Pond Street, London, United Kingdom. 4 Department of Surgery, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, PO Box 19638, Springfield, IL. This study was conducted as a part of requirement to obtain Surgical Education Re- search Fellowship (SERF), a one-year home-site fellowship, funded by Association for Surgical Education (USA) and Ethicon-Endosurgery. A.R.H. was given a travel grant of £ 1900 from Novartis Pharmaceuticals to complete the SERF programme. The first and the corresponding author had full access to all the data and are respon- sible for the decision to submit for publication. The study abstract was presented as an “oral presentation” at the British Transplant Society meeting, Glasgow, 22–24 February 2012; Surgical Education Research (SERF) Forum at the Surgical Education Week of the Association for Surgical Education, San Diego, 23 March 2012 and the International Congress of the Transplantation Society, Berlin, 15–19 July 2012. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. N.A. and A.R.H. conceptualized the study design. A.R.H. and R.D. developed the survey questionnaire. N.A. and H.S. corrected and agreed on the final survey questionnaire. A.R.H., R.D., and B.F. disseminated the survey. A.R.H. analyzed the survey data, performed the statistical analysis, and wrote the article. K.R.P., K. V.M., A.L., and B.F. gave valuable input during survey data collection and writing of the article. N.A. and H.S. made the final corrections to the article. Correspondence: Niaz Ahmad, M.D., F.R.C.S., Division of Surgery, Department of Transplantation, St. James University Hospital NHS Trust, Beckett Street, Leeds, LS9 7TF, United Kingdom. (niaz.ahmad@leedsth.nhs.uk). Copyright © 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 0041-1337/15/9904-771 DOI: 10.1097/TP.0000000000000423 Original Clinical Science Transplantation ■ April 2015 ■ Volume 99 ■ Number 4 www.transplantjournal.com 771 Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.