Eye donation: Awareness, attitudes and beliefs among nursing staff of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Chitradurga, India

Introduction: Corneal transplantation is a sight restoring procedure that enhances the recipient’s quality of life. The number of corneal transplants which were done is very low when compared to requirements in India. This is largely due to the inadequate number of corneas collected. Nursing staff can influence eye donation rates. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 59 nurses of Basaveshwara Medical College and Hospital, Chitradurga in July 2018. Primary information was collected by interview technique by using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. The data was analysed and presented in simple proportions. Results: Among total 59 nurses, 36 (61%) were aged 21 to 30 years and 18 (30.5%) were aged between 31 to 40 years. Study participants had good knowledge regarding eye donation. 89.8% nurses were willing to donate their eyes. On the whole nursing staff had good attitude towards eye donation. Conclusions: The nursing staff have good knowledge and attitude towards eye donation. Still further research on attitude of nurses and other professionals on good amount of sample and also better health education programs regarding the organ/eye donation process. Keywords: Awareness, Blindness, Corneal donation, Nursing staff.