Awareness regarding eye donation among staff of a tertiary eye care hospital in North India.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To assess the awareness, knowledge and attitude regarding eye donation in staff of a tertiary eye care hospital in North India. METHODS: A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted on the employees of a tertiary eye care centre (urban area) along with its four secondary centres (rural area). Socio-demographic profile, awareness, knowledge and attitude of 507 employees regarding eye donation were evaluated through a pretested, self-administered questionnaire. Knowledge-based questions were scored. RESULTS: Of the 507 participants, 327 (64.5%) participants were from medical/paramedical field (Group 1) and 180 (35.5%) were from non-medical field (Group 2). Awareness about eye donation was 99%. Twenty (3.95%) participants scored poor (0-8), 90 (17.75%) had a fair score (9-16) and 397 (78.30%) had a good score (17-24). Good knowledge was found in significantly more (P = 0.01) participants in Group 1 (77.37%) as compared to Group 2 (70.1%). Four hundred and fifty-seven (90.13%) participants were willing to pledge their eyes for donation, the prime motivational force being spreading vision to the blind [346 (68.24%)]. The perceived reasons for not pledging were religious [28 (5.52%)], thought of family getting upset [29 (5.72%)] and scepticism regarding proper usage of tissue [64 (12.62%)]. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated that although there is a substantial awareness about eye donation, there are certain lacunae in the knowledge and perceptions among staff of an eye care hospital. With the correct knowledge and attitude, they can contribute by creating awareness and motivating the people for eye donation while carrying out their routine hospital activities.