Attitudes of Nurses Toward Organ Donation in Serbia Zeljko Vlaisavljevic a, *, Slobodan Jankovic b , Natasa Maksimovic c , Milica Culafic a,d , Milos Stulic a , Tamara Milovanovic a,e , and Branislav Oluic f a Clinic for Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia; b Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia; c Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; d Department of Pharmacokinetics and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Serbia; e Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; and f Emergency Center, Transplant Surgery Clinic, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia ABSTRACT Objective. Nurses represent the key persons in the process of organ donation, acting as intermediaries between the patient and the family of a potential donor. The aim of this study was to analyze the factors influencing the attitudes of nurses toward bequeathing and organ and tissue donation. Methods. The research was designed as a cross-sectional study from November 2013 to November 2014 and included a sample of 264 nurses employed in the health system of Serbia. Data were collected using a specific questionnaire of 18 questions referring to the information on sociodemographic characteristics and the knowledge of organ donation. Results. The investigation enrolled 264 participants, of which 78% were women. The majority of study subjects had secondary medical education (64.4%), lived in an urban area (82.6%), were married (56.4%), and were predominantly Orthodox (87.1%) with their work experience between 5 and 10 years (29.9%) and 10 to 20 years (29.5%). The average knowledge score concerning organ donation was 29.03 (SD, 2.33; range, 23-34). There was a statistically significant difference in the scores between 2 groups formed according the length of service (P < .001) and the level of education (P ¼ .019), which showed the strongest influence on nurses’ attitudes toward donation. Conclusion. This investigation showed that nurses did not express strong positive attitude toward this issue. Further education of nurses in the Serbian health care system focusing on transplantation and bequeathing of organs and tissues are warranted. N URSES establish the closest contact with the patients and their relatives and represent crucial persons in the process of organ donation, acting as intermediaries between the patient and the family of a potential donor. If the focus on the understanding of nature and transplantation process from the angle of potential donors is observed, it is certain that empathic attitude of nurses toward patients and their families has a significant impact on organ donation and the decision to bequeath. Therefore, the knowledge, attitude, and practice of nurses involved in this specific area of medicine are essential for successful organ donation. In our country, nurses are not allowed to give information about the condition of the patient or to initiate an independent conversation with the family of a brain-dead patient. They are focused on providing patient care. Transplant is considered to be the most common treat- ment in patients with terminal phase of certain illnesses, particularly heart, liver, or kidney failure, and the progress of medical science and technology increases the incidence of this type of treatment, thus increasing the need for the study of the attitudes and knowledge in this field. According to population data, Serbia is in a penultimate place in Europe regarding a number of transplants per- formed. Furthermore, it has less than 5 donors per million *Address correspondence to Zeljko Vlaisavljevic, Clinic for Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. Tel: 00381 69 276 11 16. E-mail: kcszeljko@ gmail.com ª 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 230 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169 0041-1345/20 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transproceed.2020.01.031 Transplantation Proceedings, XX, 1e7 (2020) 1