Comparison of Knowledge and Attitude of Medical and Non-Medical Students Regarding Organ Donation in Ferdows City during 2015-2016

The most important source of organ donation for patients in need is the brain dead patients. Regarding the high accident rate in Iran and the low donation rate in the country, the present study was conducted to compare the knowledge and attitude of the students of medical sciences and non-medical sciences in Ferdows city regarding organ donation.
In this cross-sectional study, 480 students of medical and non-medical sciences were selected from Islamic Azad University, Universities of Paramedical Sciences and Payame Noor in Ferdows City using the non-random sampling method during 2015-2016. The data were collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire. Then, the data were analyzed using independent t-test and ANOVA by the SPSS 22 software.
The results of this study showed that there was a significant difference in the variable of attitude between medical and non-medical students (P = 0.041). Also, there was no significant difference in the variable of knowledge between medical and non-medical students (P = 0.094). However, the mean of the knowledge variable in medical students (19.08 ± 2.93) was higher than non-medical students (18.48 ± 4.74).
According to the results of this study, the knowledge about organ donation is low; so, public education at the community level should be increased to improve the positive attitude towards the organ donation and, consequently, to increase the rate of transplantation.