ABSTRACT

Objective:

This study was carried out as a descriptive study in order to determine knowledge and thought of nurses about brain death and vegetative state.

Materials and Methods:

Two hundred nurses who agree to participate were included in the research. In data collection, the questionnaire which included 36 items was used. The results were represented as frequency and percentage.

Results:

Twenty-four percent of nurses stated that organ transplantation was the main reason for diagnosis of brain death, 58% said they could donate their own organs when they had brain death, and 54% said they could donate their relatives’ organs. In the study, it was stated that “brain injury should be widespread and irreversible “(83.5%) as a compulsory condition for brain death detection. Among the brain death criteria, “pupillars were unresponsive to the light, midline, and dilated” (71%), among the characteristics of herbal life “can survive for years in an unaware status of the surroundings as long as the individual is provided with care” (87%) were correctly answered.

Conclusion:

It has been confirmed that most of the nurses haven’t donated organs as well as the lack of knowledge regarding the brain death. It is suggested that the nurses should be educated about vegetative state and brain death and their awareness about organ donation should be increased.