Background: Organ donation has become one of the most effective ways to save lives and improve the quality of life for patients with end-stage organ failure. No previous studies have investigated the preferences for the different consenting options for organ donation in Egypt. This study aims to assess Egyptians' preferences regarding consenting options for posthumous organ donation, and measure their awareness and acceptance of the Egyptian law articles regulating organ donation. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 2743 participants over two years. Each participant was required to rank eleven consenting options from 1 (most preferred) to 11 (least preferred), and to report his awareness and acceptance of the seven articles of the Egyptian law of organ donation. Results: 47% of the participants expressed willingness to donate their organs after death. This percentage increased to 78% when consenting options were explained to participants. "Informed consent by donor only" was the most preferred type of consent for one third of respondents. Awareness of the law articles regulating organ donation was relatively low ranging from 56% to 23%. Conclusion: Currently, around half of the Egyptian population agree to posthumous organ donation. This percentage could be increased significantly by raising the awareness about how the process of donation could be regulated and how the patient's right of decision could be protected.

Background: Informed consent (IC) is a healthcare standard emphasizing the meaning of human dignity as clarified in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Data about IC practices in Egypt is insufficient. This study aimed to describe the Egyptian patients ‘or guardians ‘experience about IC and their expectations about its meaning in general and according to type of healthcare facility. Methods: Self-administered questionnaire to 1092 participants who had undergone or were scheduled to a procedure requiring an IC at three types of Egyptian health care facilities. Ten statements were ranked twice by the participants to reflect their perception of IC purpose as per what is currently practiced then as per what they believe should be practiced. Results: Informed consent implementation varies across the different levels of health care facilities in Egypt; being implemented the most at the non-governmental health facilities (in 85.9 % of procedures) followed by the governmental health care facilities (77.8 %) and the least at the university hospitals (63.8 %). Current practice was perceived to: “Help patient/guardian decide”, “Document patient’s/guardian’s decision”, and “Have shared decision” (ranked 1–5 by 64.9%, 59.3 %, and 57.3% of respondents, respectively). The perceived purpose of IC was to: “Inform the patient/guardian”, “Make sure patient/guardian understand” and “Document patient’s/guardian’s decision” (ranked 1–5 by 68.4%, 65.3 %, and 65.1% of respondents, respectively). Conclusion: The use of IC is common in Egyptian medical practice but varies across healthcare facilities. Participants believe that the current purpose of IC is to help in decision making, and its main purpose should be information disclosure. There is consensus agreement that both documenting the patient’s/guardian’s decision and informing the patient /guardian is considered as important current as well as preferred practices. IC should be an integral part of any procedure with more emphasis on seeking assent children whenever appropriate. Keywords: Informed consent, Arab Culture, Norm perception, Current practice.

Abstract:Introduction: Among 35 million Health Care Workers worldwide, about 3 million primary health care workers (PHCWs) experience percutaneous exposures to blood borne pathogens (BBPs) each year, these percutaneous injuries may result in 15000 HCV and 70000 HBV and 1000 HIV infections, which lead to about 1100 deaths and significant disabilities. More than 90% of these infections occur in developing countries. Aim of Work: The present study was conducted for prevention of BBPs transmission to HCWs through: determining their base line knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding Blood Borne Infectious Diseases (BBIPs) transmission, prevention and control, preparing and adopting a health education program for primary health care workers safety against BBIPs and evaluation for recommended generalization. Materials and Methods: A concise situational analysis was done first, then, an intervention health education program was conducted in all primary health care centers present in Ismailia city (4 centers) aiming to improve knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of 170 PHCWs (physicians, nurses and technicians who accepted to participate in this research) about BBPs, related universal precautions (UP) and preventive measures. Evaluation of this intervention was done by assessment of the change in PHCWs KAP regarding BBIDs UP and preventive measures. Results: This study showed that (45.9%) of PHCWs had complete courses of HBV vaccination, also 39.4% of PHCWs received at least one

Background: Organ donation has become one of the most effective ways in developing and developed countries to save lives and improve the quality of life for patients with end-stage organ failure. No previous studies investigated either the Egyptians’ perception or preferences about different consenting options for organ donation. This study aims to assess Egyptian personal preferences and public perception of norm on several consenting options for posthumous organ donation, and measure the awareness and acceptance of the public to Egyptian law articles regulating organ donation. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted along two years among 2743 participants. Participants were chosen from governmental and non-governmental facilities as well as from the general public. Each participant was required to complete the study questionnaire which included demographic characteristics, personal preferences and public norms of eleven consenting options arranged from 1 (most preferred) to 11 (least preferred), and awareness and acceptance of the seven articles of Egyptian laws concerning organ donation. Results: About 78% of the respondents expressed willingness to donate their organs after death while 22% were not willing to donate. Out of donation preferences, informed consent by donor only was a preferable choice, where about one third of respondents assigned to this option the highest ranking scores (31% as a personal preference and 31.6 % for the public norm). There was no difference between males and females or between personal preferences and perception of norms in consenting systems ranking. The awareness for the targeted Egyptian laws regarding organ donation after death was relatively low ranging from 56% to 23%. Conclusion: Informed consent by donor only was the preferable choice as personal preference and as norm. The choice of consenting options did not vary with gender, education or employment. Increasing the awareness of Egyptians on the articles of the law of organ donation is highly needed.