Bone marrow donors among medicine and exact sciences professors: is there enough information?

Abstract

Bone marrow graft (BMG) is a procedure to treat not only genetic and onco-hematological conditions, but also some solid tumors. New donors have been intensively recruited through campaigns organized by several organs and charities. This work aimed to assess the degree of information about organ transplantation, specially BMG, among lecturers from different fields of expertise from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF). Method: sixty lecturers from the School of Medicine (SM) and 60 lecturers from the Institute of Sciences (ICE) voluntarily and individually answered a nine-question questionnaire. Results: among SM lecturers and ICE ones 23/60 (38.33%) and 44/60 (73.33%) respectively, did not know the necessary procedures to become a donor and among. Do not belong to the National Registry of Bone Marrow Donors 58/60 (96.66%) of the SM lectures and 55/57 (96.49%) of the ICE ones. Lack of opportunity (37.20%) is some of the reasons in the SM, with lack of information (39.62%) as the main reasons cited in the ICE. Conclusion: organ donation, chiefly BMG, is an issue about which a sizeable number of lecturers lack information. Effective measures to popularize the issue, besides media campaigns, should be implemented to increase the number of donors.