Health care professionals' knowledge of procedural issues in transplantation: the need for continuing education programs

Abstract 

Organ transplantation is a multidisciplinary field that requires a good knowledge of the processes and excellent cooperation throughout the entire hospital. The aim of this study was to determine the level of knowledge of health care professionals (HCPs) at our transplantation center concerning general definitions and procedural issues related to transplantation. A questionnaire including nine items—five questions on general definitions and four on procedural issues—was distributed to 100 randomly selected HCPs. Four participants were excluded because they completed the questionnaire incorrectly; thus, there were 96 total respondents.

The mean number (±SD) of correct answers overall was 5.78 ± 1.36. Concerning general definitions, 11.5% of the respondents answered all of the questions correctly. However, the corresponding rate for the procedural questions was 3.1%. One percent of the respondents answered 1 or zero definition questions correctly, and 19.8% answered 1 or zero procedural questions correctly. The HCPs showed better knowledge of general issues related to transplantation than procedural issues. The results of this study suggest that the knowledge of HCPs in transplantation centers in Turkey is limited to the extent that their specialty is linked to transplantation. It is important that continuing medical education programs be instituted in organ procurement and transplantation centers in Turkey. These in-service training programs would enhance HCPs' understanding of and participation in procedures related to transplantation, and thus improve the total quality of the transplantation process.