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Abstract

Currently there are approximately 500 people in Ireland waiting for an organ donation while only approximately 280 transplants are carried out per year. While close to 80% of Irish people support organ donation it is estimated that only one-third of those are registered donors. This is the basis for the new ‘Opt Out’ policy within the ‘Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Act 2024’ that has recently been signed into law (as of 28th February 2024). This study aimed to investigate third-level students’ awareness of this new legislation and to determine if there would be an increase in organ donors due to the new legislation.

Of 173 responses, 38.7% of respondents were currently registered organ donors, while 50.3% were not registered donors and 11% were unsure of whether they were an organ donor or not. In comparison, 73.4% of respondents would remain ‘Opted in’ in the new system. This is an increase in organ donors of 34.7%. A relationship was found between being a current donor and the preference chosen in the new ‘Opt Out’ legislation. People who currently are registered donors were more likely to choose to stay ‘opted in’ in the new consent system. The primary reasons for not registering to donate previously were ‘Haven’t thought about it’ (48.1% of non-donors) and ‘Would like to but don’t know how’ (37.7% of non-donors). A total of 93.6% of respondents agreed there need to be more awareness about the legislation. Based on the results of this survey, an overall positive reaction was given to the introduction of the ‘Opt out’ consent system in Ireland among third-level students. According to the statistics in this study, introducing this legislation will have a positive effect on the willingness to donate organs among the adult student population.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publisher

Munster Technological University

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