Department of Psychology, Institution of Medical Humanities, China Medical University, Shengyang, China.
Department of Anesthesiology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36 Sanhao Street, Heping Dist, 110004, Shenyang, China.
BMC Med Educ. 2024 Mar 28;24(1):346. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05346-w.
The medical students' knowledge and attitude toward brain death has not been investigated in China. The aims of this study were to assess the knowledge and attitude toward brain death among medical students in China and assess the influence of medical education on the knowledge and attitude.
An online questionnaire consisting of 17 questions was developed and completed by undergraduates majoring in clinical medicine in China Medical University. The students' demographic data, knowledge and attitude toward brain death were collected and analyzed.
A total of 1075 medical students participated in the survey, and 1051 of them completed the valid questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis grouped the 17 items into four dimensions, which explained 63.5% of the total variance. These dimensions were named as knowledge (5 items), attitude (5 items), concern (3 items) and education needs (4 items) respectively. The global Cronbach α of the questionnaire was 0.845 and the Cronbach α of the four dimensions ranged from 0.756 to 0.866. The mean dimension scores of knowledge, attitude, concern and education needs was 3.67 ± 0.89, 3.67 ± 0.87, 3.10 ± 1.03 and 4.12 ± 0.72 respectively. The clinical students had a better knowledge than the preclinical students (P < 0.001). The clinical students had a more favorable attitude in stopping the treatment for a brain-dead family member and using the organs and/or tissues of brain-dead patients for transplantation (P < 0.001). The clinical students showed more concerns than the preclinical students (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the education needs between the clinical and pre-clinical students.
Most medical students in China had insufficient knowledge about brain death. Although their knowledge of brain death increased with their university degree, their attitude toward organ donation after brain death did not evolve accordingly. Their concerns about brain death increased with seniority. Most students had great education needs about brain death.
中国尚未对医学生对脑死亡的知识和态度进行调查。本研究的目的是评估中国医学生对脑死亡的知识和态度，并评估医学教育对知识和态度的影响。
采用在线问卷形式，对中国医科大学临床医学专业的本科生进行调查。收集学生的人口统计学数据、脑死亡知识和态度，并进行分析。
共有 1075 名医学生参与了调查，其中 1051 人完成了有效问卷。探索性因素分析将 17 项内容分为四个维度，这四个维度解释了总方差的 63.5%。这四个维度分别命名为知识（5 项）、态度（5 项）、关注（3 项）和教育需求（4 项）。问卷的总体 Cronbach α 为 0.845，四个维度的 Cronbach α 范围为 0.756 至 0.866。知识、态度、关注和教育需求维度的平均维度分数分别为 3.67±0.89、3.67±0.87、3.10±1.03 和 4.12±0.72。临床学生的知识得分高于基础医学学生（P<0.001）。临床学生在停止治疗脑死亡家属和使用脑死亡患者的器官和/或组织进行移植方面表现出更有利的态度（P<0.001）。临床学生比基础医学学生更关注脑死亡（P<0.001）。临床和基础医学学生在教育需求方面没有显著差异。
中国大多数医学生对脑死亡的知识不足。尽管他们的脑死亡知识随着学历的提高而增加，但他们对脑死亡后器官捐献的态度并没有相应地发展。他们对脑死亡的关注随着年级的升高而增加。大多数学生对脑死亡有很大的教育需求。
