Eye Donation: Awareness, Knowledge, Willingness, and Barriers among Paramedical and Allied Health Science Students at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in South India

Abstract

Background. Visual impairments have physical, emotional, social, and economical consequences and are a crucial element influencing one's quality of life. A total of 1.285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide of which 39 million are categorised as blind. These figures are startling, given that 80 percent of known vision impairments are either treatable or preventable. Corneal transplants appear to be our best hope for resolving this problem; however, a global shortage of available donors continues to dampen efforts addressing this issue. Methods. This two-year cross-sectional study employed a convenience sampling technique and a standardised questionnaire to survey 150 paramedical and allied health science students at a tertiary care teaching hospital and assessed the awareness, knowledge, willingness and barriers regarding eye donation. Results. The study revealed a 93.3% awareness rate of the donation procedure, of which 46% attributed their awareness to media sources. However, other aspects assessed had much lower awareness rates; when the eyes are donated (53.3%), optimal time period for retrieval of tissue/organ (54%), ideal part transplanted (54%), age limit not restricting donation (67%), donation by donors using spectacles (48%), confidentiality of the donor and recipient (54%), hospital having the facility of an eye bank (63%). 49 percent of the respondents were willing to pledge themselves as eye donors, and a majority of the unwilling respondents reported that familial opposition was the reason for their hesitation. Conclusion. Knowledge levels appear to be below expectations, and more effort is required to ensure that knowledge is imparted to our healthcare practitioners, who will then transfer this knowledge to the population, resulting in an increase in donation rates.

Eye Donation: Knowledge, Beliefs, Awareness, and Willingness Among Ambulance Drivers in Central India

“…25 Our study revealed that 27.6% (n = 13) of the participants were aware of the optimal time for the removal of eyes after death, which is less than that reported by Kacheri et al (67%), Singh et al (41.1%), and Chowdhury et al (69%). 18,21,23 In the current study, barely 43% (n = 20) of the participants were aware of the existence of eye banks in the city. There has been variability in the awareness about the existence of eye banks in various studies.…”

“…The knowledge about the donation of eyes after death was poor in our study compared with the study by Kacheri et al (n = 85/150, 56%), Bhandary et al (88%), Singh et al (99.4%), Ronaki et al (80.3%), and Biswas et al (81%). 16,19,21,23,24 Poor knowledge about eye donation was also seen in the study by Lal et al in which only 33% of the participants were aware of eye donation after death. 25 Our study revealed that 27.6% (n = 13) of the participants were aware of the optimal time for the removal of eyes after death, which is less than that reported by Kacheri et al (67%), Singh et al (41.1%), and Chowdhury et al (69%).…”

“…15 Kacheri et al recorded an awareness rate of 93.3% on eye donation among paramedical and allied health science students in a South Indian teaching hospital. 21 Sushma et al noted an awareness rate of 99.2% among medical and paramedical students in a tertiary care hospital. 22 These reports signify that we should take efforts to incorporate knowledge about eye donation at the high school level, irrespective of the stream of the study.…”

A study on knowledge, attitude, and practice about eye donation among medical students and healthcare professionals at a tertiary hospital in Eastern India

“…Various literature studies also reported mass media and public campaigns as the major sources of information. [ 13 15 24 33 34 ] Hence, the requirement for the use of mass media in creating eye donation awareness among students and the general population must be expedited. Furthermore, these eye and organ donation campaigns have been successfully proven in creating awareness in certain states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra.…”

An Assessment of the Level of Awareness of Eye Health Care Services Provided by Onesight in the Gambia

“…People may have the perception that if they had an eye disease, they would have symptoms, and that is not always the case. Hence the need to be aware of health issues through health literacy, which in some cases can be aided by education (Attebo, Mitchell, Cumming, & Smith, 1997;Islam et al, 2015;Kacheri et al, 2022). Shrestha et al (2018) in a study in Nepal using a population-based cross-sectional study between 2008 and 2016 in eight villages concluded that there was a general lack of awareness and knowledge of common eye diseases.…”