Justification:

Organ transplantation depends directly on the willingness to donate, which also depends not only on general public understanding but also on healthcare personnel knowledge about the topic. We evaluated attitudes and knowledge about organ donation, transplantation and brain death in health sciences students.

Methods:

A cross-sectional survey study was conducted in health sciences students from Universidad de Iberoamerica (UNIBE) to assess attitudes and knowledge about organ donation, transplantation and brain death.

Results:

A total of 326 students were surveyed from different health sciences careers including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and psychology, where 73 % showed willingness for organ donation but only 35.3 % had documented identification as a donor. A 94.2 % considered organ donation has a humanitarian motivation. A 92.6 % of the surveyed students require more information about the topic. There was a misconception of brain death as a reversible condition in 26.3% of the surveyed and 44.8 % will not distinguish between brain death and persistent neurovegetative state.

Conclusions:

There is a great acceptance toward organ donation but without written evidence of that willingness. There are some misconceptions about brain death and organ donation. The inclusion of this topic in the medical curriculum and the implementation of training programs may improve the level of knowledge on this topic and may reduce shortage of organs for transplant.