@article{Mpekethu_Mongare_Mutua_Wangari_Csefalvay_Ojuka_2021, title={Knowledge and attitudes of undergraduate medical students in Kenya towards solid organ donation and transplantation: Are Africa’s future clinicians prepared?}, volume={24}, url={https://www.journals.ac.za/ajn/article/view/4843}, DOI={10.21804/24-1-4843}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Background:</strong> Solid organ donation and transplantation remains grossly underdeveloped in most African countries. The knowledge and attitude of tomorrow’s professionals may be key to the improvement of these services.</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> A sample of undergraduate medical students from all the medical schools in Kenya offering Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees were surveyed using a self-administered, web-based questionnaire, between July and September 2018.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> Of the 303 participants, 167 (55.1%) were female. Only 8.9% of the students had read the laws governing transplantation in Kenya. An even lower percentage (3.3%) felt that they had learned enough about solid organ donation and transplantation from their medical curriculum. More than half (53%) of the respondents would subscribe as solid organ donors, which reduced to 47% when it came to consenting to donating their relatives’ organs. Less than half of the students (40%) considered they would be comfortable introducing the topic or confident answering questions (23%) related to organ donation and transplantation. Only 9.9% of the sample had ever spoken to a patient about organ donation. There was no significant association between level of study (preclinical versus clinical) and comfort introducing the topic of organ donation (P = 0.206) or experience talking to a patient about the subject (P = 0.102).</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Undergraduate medical students have significant knowledge gaps regarding organ donation and transplantation and feel ill-prepared to approach a potential donor or transplant recipient.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p&gt;}, number={1}, journal={African Journal of Nephrology}, author={Mpekethu, Nelson Mweteri and Mongare, Newnex Brian and Mutua, Victor and Wangari, Marie-Claire and Csefalvay, Chris von and Ojuka, Daniel}, year={2021}, month={Dec.}, pages={89-94} }