Department of Ophthalmology, Nepal Eye Hospital, Tripureshwor, Kathmandu.
Pacific University, College of Optometry.
Kathmandu Univ Med J (KUMJ). 2021;19(73):3-8.
Background Corneal blindness accounts for a significant proportion of avoidable visual impairment in developing countries. Eye donation is voluntary and awareness in undergraduate medical students being a future practitioner in any field are expected to be linked to patients during death in hospitals. Objective To assess the awareness of medical students on eye donation at Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences (KUSMS). Method This was a cross-sectional study conducted among undergraduate medical students of KUSMS. Students' responses were recorded using a predesigned, pretested, semistructured questionnaire inquiring knowledge and attitude of eye donation, sources of information, their willingness to donate eyes as well as the reasons for donating/ not donating eyes. Result Less than half of the medical students (45.6%) were aware of eye donation only after death. Newspapers (72.2%) were the major source of information. The final year medical students were more aware (Average knowledge score = 11.56 ± 2.05) than their juniors. 80.7% of the students were willing to donate their eyes. The adjudged reasons for willingness to donate were that eye donation is a noble work and pleasure in helping a blind person while the reasons for unwillingness to donate were lack of awareness followed by family objection to eye donation. Conclusion Future medical practitioners possessed satisfactory knowledge about eye donation. Educating this cadre of human resources to sensitize them towards the need for eye donation would be a crucial step towards reducing the global burden of corneal blindness.
背景
在发展中国家，角膜盲占可避免视力损害的很大比例。眼捐赠是自愿的，预计在医院死亡时，未来在任何领域从事医疗工作的医学生应该与患者有关。
目的
评估 Kathmandu 大学医学院（KUSMS）医学生对眼捐赠的认识。
方法
这是一项在 KUSMS 医学生中进行的横断面研究。使用预先设计、预测试、半结构化问卷记录学生的回答，询问他们对眼捐赠的知识和态度、信息来源、捐赠/不捐赠眼睛的意愿以及捐赠/不捐赠眼睛的原因。
结果
不到一半的医学生（45.6%）只有在死后才知道眼捐赠。报纸（72.2%）是主要的信息来源。高年级医学生（平均知识得分=11.56±2.05）比低年级医学生更了解（平均知识得分=11.56±2.05）。80.7%的学生愿意捐献自己的眼睛。愿意捐献的理由是眼捐赠是一项高尚的工作，帮助盲人是一种乐趣，而不愿意捐献的理由是缺乏意识，其次是家人反对眼捐献。
结论
未来的医疗从业者对眼捐赠有满意的认识。教育这一人力资源骨干，使他们认识到眼捐赠的必要性，将是减少全球角膜盲负担的关键一步。
