Abstract

AIM: Corneal diseases constitute a significant cause of visual impairment and blindness in the developing world. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of medical students on eye donation.
METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among first year medical students in the month of December 2012. Universal sampling was employed as the method of sampling. All first year students which were present at the time of study were included as the study subjects. Total sample size for the study was 138. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used for conducting the study which was administered to each of the study participants after obtaining their informed consent. Utmost care was taken to maintain privacy and confidentiality. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 17. Frequency distributions were calculated for all the variables.
RESULTS: Majority of the medical students 130 (94.2%) were aware about eye donation. Television was the most common source of awareness identified for eye donation by 73 (56.2%) subjects. Lack of awareness was the most common reason cited by 47 (34.1%) students for restriction of eye donation.
CONCLUSION: Though majority of the medical students were aware about eye donation there were many gaps identified in their knowledge which can be bridged only by building health promotion strategies to clear their misconceptions about eye donation

Key words: Eye, Donation, Cornea, Awareness

Article Language: Turkish English