Chaitra M. C, Sujatha V, S. Pandu
PURPOSE: To assess the awareness and perception of nursing students towards eye donation in rural Karnataka. METHOD: A Cross-sectional study was conducted. A pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was used for collecting the information from 200 nursing students. RESULTS: The majority 184(92%) of students knew that eyes can be donated after death but only 64(32%) knew that the ideal time of donation was within 6 hours of death. Most participants 144(72%) were either willing or had already pledged to donate their eyes. Only 60(30%) knew about organ donation act. Majority 182(91%) knew that HIV patient cannot donate their eyes. Most of the students 162(81%) knew that eyes were removed by an eye specialist. Among students who are willing to donate eyes, 122(84.7%) students felt that donating eye is a noble act. Perceived reasons for not pledging eyes by the students were: the unacceptable idea of separating the eyes from the body 34(60.7%), lack of awareness 26(46.4%) and objection by family members 22(39.3%). CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that although awareness regarding eye donation is high, there is lack of knowledge and motivation related to eye donation.
