Public perception of deceased organ donation in Trinidad

Objective: To investigate person's knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) toward Deceased Organ Donation (DOD) in Trinidad. Design and Methodology: A cross-sectional study of patients attending four randomly selected health centres in Trinidad was conducted using a using quota sampling, to obtain equal numbers of males and females. Data was collected using a 41-item questionnaire, which was structured to test knowledge, attitude and practices. Chis-sq analysis was conducted using SPSS Version-23. Results: 273 respondents completed the questionnaire; 50.5% females; mean age 39.5 (SD15.1) years; 50.2% Indo-Caribbean and 24.5% African, 47.8% completed secondary education; and majority Christian (48.4%) or Hindu (31.5%). 81.3% had heard of the term organ donation". Respondents believed the most frequently reported organs for deceased organ transplant in Trinidad were kidney (76.1%), heart (48.2%) and liver (33.3%). When asked about their attitudes toward DOD, 52.3% of the respondents stated that they would donate their organs, 79% had not heard about the National Organ Transplant Unit (NOTU) and no respondent reported ever donating an organ, nor enquired about donor cards (80%), nor heard about support groups (68%). Conclusion: Most participants, though knowledgeable on the term DOD, were not familiar with the practice nor the major organ donation groups in Trinidad such as NOTU and the Kidney Recipients Support Group. However, participants were positive toward DOD, thus, raising greater awareness can lead to major cost-benefits for the public health system.

Blood donors' attitudes towards voluntary non-remunerated donation in Trinidad and Tobago.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the attitude towards voluntary non-remunerated blood donation among blood donors in Trinidad and Tobago (TRT). BACKGROUND: Blood donors in TRT are either family replacement (F/R, 87%) or remunerated (13%). There is chronic blood shortage and high seroreactivity for transfusion-transmissible infections (TTI) in donors. Converting existing to voluntary non-remunerated donors (VNRD) reduces the need to recruit news donors in achieving 100% VNRD. METHODS: A questionnaire-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted at two blood collection centres at an interval of 8 years. Donors were surveyed for sociodemographic characteristics, awareness of the blood shortage, previous donation behaviour, donor-beneficiary linkage if F/R, willingness to become VNRD and choice of motivators for converting to VNRD. RESULTS: A total of 400 and 595 donors respectively participated in Surveys 1 and 2, of whom 92·8 and 86·3% were F/R (P < 0·001), respectively. In both surveys, 52% of participants were unaware of an existing blood shortage (P = 0·983). Only 9·8 and 9·1% of participants expressed unwillingness to become VNRD (P = 0·720). The main motivators to convert to VNRD were reminders from the centre (84%) and extended opening hours (78%) in Survey 1 as compared to confidence that donated blood was used properly (73%) and shortened waiting times to donate (73%) in Survey 2. CONCLUSION: Despite low awareness of blood shortage, willingness to become VNRD was high among existing donors. Accountability and donor convenience underpinned the main motivators for converting to VNRD.