Informiranost studenata Sveučilišta Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku o opt-out zakonu o doniranju organa nakon moždane smrti

Filip Šimić, Adrian Borna Bašić, Marija Magdalena Purgar, Lucija Falamić, Marko Roso, Lucija Mandić, Zvonimir Kolarević, Mateja Debeljak, Lada Zibar

Cilj istraživanja: Ispitati informiranost studenata fakulteta sastavnica Sveučilišta Josipa Jurja Strossmayera (JJS) u Osijeku o opt-out zakonu o doniranju organa nakon moždane smrti koji je trenutačno važeći u Hrvatskoj. Ispitanici i postupci: U presječnom istraživanju provedenom od 2. do 19. veljače 2023. sudjelovalo je 1.105 studenata Sveučilišta JJS u Osijeku. Podatci su prikupljeni pomoću online upitnika koji su sastavili autori, „snowball“ metodom. Statistički su obrađeni χ2 testom, uz statističku značajnost P < 0,05. Rezultati: Medijan dobi bio je 22 (interkvartilni raspon 21 – 23) godine. 71,6% bilo je ženskog spola. 22,5% studenata mislilo je da zna važeći zakon u Hrvatskoj o doniranju organa nakon moždane smrti, dok je 21% znalo objašnjenje toga zakona. Objašnjenje moždane smrti znalo ih je 78,3%, stav Katoličke crkve o transplantaciji organa 31%, da je u Hrvatskoj zabranjeno doniranje organa radi stjecanja materijalne koristi 48,9%, a 30,5% da je Hrvatska u europskom i svjetskom vrhu prema broju doniranja i transplantacije organa (na milijun stanovnika). Studenti s medicinskog, drugoga zdravstvenog i pravnog fakulteta značajno su češće od ispitanika ostalih fakulteta mislili da znaju važeći zakon (P < 0,001), objašnjenje tog zakona (P < 0,001), objašnjenje moždane smrti (P < 0,001), stav Katoličke crkve o transplantaciji organa (P = 0,005), da je u Hrvatskoj zabranjeno doniranje organa radi stjecanja materijalne koristi (P = 0,013) i da je Hrvatska u europskom i svjetskom vrhu prema broju doniranja i transplantacije organa (P < 0,001). Zaključak: Studenti su pokazali slabo poznavanje opt-out zakona o doniranju organa nakon moždane smrti i nedovoljnu informiranost o toj temi te samim time često ni sami ne znaju da su donori nakon moždane smrti ako se za života ne izjasne drukčije. Ipak, studenti medicine, drugih zdravstvenih studija i prava bili su bolje upoznati od ostalih, no, potrebno ih je sve o tome educirati.

Research objective: To investigate the awareness of students at the University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer (JJS) in Osijek regarding the current opt-out law on organ donation after brain death in Croatia. Methods and participants: One thousand one hundred and five students from the University of JJS in Osijek participated in this cross-sectional study conducted from February 2 to 19, 2023. Data were collected using an online questionnaire the authors created via the snowball method. Statistical analysis was conducted using the χ2 test, with statistical significance at P < 0.05. Results: The students’ median age was 22 years (interquartile range 21 – 23), with 71.6 % being females. Twenty-two point five percent of students believed that they knew the current law in Croatia regarding organ donation after brain death, while 21 % really knew the correct explanation of that law. Seventy-eight point three percent were familiar with the explanation of brain death, 31 % knew the stance of the Catholic Church on organ transplantation, 48.9 % were aware that organ donation for material gain is prohibited in Croatia, and 30.5 % knew of Croatia’s high ranking in Europe and globally in terms of organ donation and
transplantation (per million inhabitants). Students from the medical, other health-related, and law school significantly more often believed that they knew the current law (P < 0.001), understood the explanation of the law (P < 0.001), knew the definition of brain death (P < 0.001), knew the stance of the Catholic Church on organ transplantation (P = 0.013) and were aware that Croatia ranks high in Europe and globally in terms of organ donation and transplantation (P < 0.001) compared to respondents from other faculties. Conclusion: Students demonstrated a limited understanding of the opt-out law regarding organ donation after brain death. Consequently, they often remained unaware of being donors themselves after brain death, unless they expressively stated otherwise during their lifetime. Still, medical, other health-related and law students, demonstrated superior knowledge, but more education remains necessary.