Vol. 2, Issue 8, Part A (2016)

Materials and Method: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was administered to 205 undergraduate students, intern and post graduate students of Agartala Government Medical College.

Results: 88.3% of subjects knew the anatomy and functions of brainstem. Only 40% of the subjects could identify brainstem death as a different entity from persistent vegetative state. 80% of subjects knew the protocol of requirement of more than one doctor and twice testing of the patient before declaring brain stem dead. 40.5% of the subjects knew the differential diagnosis of brainstem death. 65.3% of the individuals recognised EEG as an ancillary test for confirmation of brainstem death.

Conclusion: Knowledge is an important factor affecting an individual's decision concerning removal of life support therapy upon the diagnosis of brainstem death and further procuring organ for transplantation. Hence, emphasis should be made to manage this important end-of-life issue.