Medical Students’ knowledge, attitude towards hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and donation behaviour at Taif university

Introduction: The most effective therapy for life-threatening blood disorders and bone marrow dysfunction is using hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). World wide, patients’ waiting lists for HSCT donor are increasing since the number of requirement is bigger than voluntary donors. The major reason behind inadequate number of donors is lacking of community awareness and low level of knowledge. Thus, this study aimed to assess medical students’ experience in donation, basic knowledge and attitudes regarding HSCT. Method: This study was carried out in Medicine College at Taif University. An online questionnaire was created and consisting of 23 questions. Result: showed 41.7% of medical students were not registered in Saudi stem cell donor registry (SSCDR). Only 1.7% of students have donated marrow in the past. However, 19.5% of them were donated blood and/or blood products previously. In this study, students showed low level of basic knowledge regarding donation process. Only 5% of the students were aware of that the registration in the SSCDR is not require providing a blood sample. Positive attitude toward joining donor registry drive and donating with HSC was reported among medical students. The result showed more than 50% of participants were agree to join registry drive in their area and 60.1% were welcome to donate stem cells during their medical school days for unrelated individual. Majority of students (89%) were willing to donate stem cells to any family member who matched with them and needed bone marrow transplantation. Conclusion: This study suggested that increasing awareness level and education is essential for the purpose of improving the medical students information, attitude toward joining SSCDR and donating HSC to save others’ life.