Impact of Sensitization in Knowledge, Perception, and Willingness to Register for Organ Donation among Medical Undergraduate Students in Andaman and Nicobar Islands: A Prospective Pre–Post Interventional Study

Background and Objectives: The scarcity of donated organs worldwide is widely acknowledged, and India also lags in this dimension. Augmentation of awareness and knowledge regarding this subject, especially among the medical fraternity, paves the way toward higher rates of organ pledging and encourages healthcare workers to take up the role of promoting this practice. The study aimed to assess the baseline awareness of medical undergraduate students under three domains: knowledge, perception, and willingness (KPW) and the impact of sensitization on the same. Materials and Methods: A total of 180 medical undergraduate student volunteers of Andaman Nicobar Island Institute of Medical Sciences, Port Blair, were enrolled in the study. Participants were given a presensitization questionnaire consisting of 82 questions to collect the baseline KPW data. The same questionnaire was administered immediately after a detailed educational intervention on the topic of organ donation, which also included a prerecorded video lecture by an eminent faculty from the Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Two sets of received responses were compared to evaluate the effectiveness of the sensitization program in improving the participants’ understanding and attitudes toward organ donation. Results: The study group was composed of 52%, 14%, and 34% of the 1 st , 2 nd , and 3 rd phase medical undergraduate students, with higher ratio of female participants, who represented nearly two-thirds of the total. The data were collected using Google Forms, designed to administer the pretest and posttest questionnaires. Categorical variables were summarized using frequencies and percentages, and changes in KPW following the educational intervention were evaluated using Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests. Analysis of all pre- and postsensitization responses showed overall improvement in various domains like “swap donation;” the awareness increased from 14.4% to 84.4%. The perception domain was improved from 23.3% to 76.7%. Awareness regarding the number of hours each organ remains viable for transplantation after cardiac death improved from 29.4% to 90.6%. Conclusion: Despite the limited sample size, the results of this study strongly indicate that an educational intervention can greatly enhance the KPW qualities of medical students and motivate them to play a more effective role in raising awareness about organ donation.