What ICU nurses in different Austrian hospitals know and think about the Austrian organ donation law

We previously reported a high level of information on the Austrian organ donation law in medical and non-medical students, patients and ICU nurses, whereby ICU nurses at University Hospital in Graz (n = 185) were very well informed and also had the most critical view of the Austrian organ donation law. This letter reports the extension of our previous study to ICU nurses from hospitals with a Christian background (n = 60). We found that ICU nurses in hospitals run by religious congregations considered the Austrian organ donation law to be good more often than did those at the University Hospital in Graz. A positive attitude was also influenced by gender and prior knowledge of the law. Reasons for this could be the Christian orientation of the hospitals or exposure to organ donation and transplantation procedures on the job.