Organ donation and the rural critical care nurse

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 473-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
LK McCoy ◽  
SK Bell
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Organ Donation ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Organ Procurement ◽  
Medical Center ◽  
Organ Donor ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Organ Donors ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes

BACKGROUND. Less than 20% of people who meet the criteria for organ donors are estimated to donate organs. OBJECTIVE. To examine the knowledge and attitudes of rural critical care nurses regarding organ donation. METHODS. Forty-six critical care nurses from a southwestern medical center provided data for this study. Self-reported knowledge and attitudes were measured using the Organ Donor Attitude Questionnaire and compared with respondents' demographic characteristics. RESULTS. Knowledge scores were found to be average (74% correct). Attitude scores reflected a strongly positive attitude toward organ donation. Increased knowledge of organ donation was not found to be related to a positive attitude. However, both attitude and knowledge were found to be positively correlated with previous experience in caring for either organ donors or recipients. Results were compared with data collected in an urban setting and found to be similar. CONCLUSIONS. Results of this study indicate that exposure to patients affected by organ procurement increased knowledge and improved attitudes of the nurses who provided care. Increased knowledge and positive attitude are important when providing support to families and caring for potential donors. These factors could increase the supply of donors for transplants, which is a goal of the organ procurement process.

How nurses shift from care of a brain-injured patient to maintenance of a brain-dead organ donor

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 306-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Day
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Organ Procurement ◽  
Injured Patient ◽  
Organ Donor ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Organ Donors ◽  
Early Referral ◽  
Brain Injured Patient ◽  
Brain Injured ◽  
Brain Dead

BACKGROUND: The responsibility of obtaining organs for transplantation rests partly on critical care nurses. How nurses balance care of critically ill, brain-injured patients with the professional responsibility to procure organs is a question of ethical and clinical importance. OBJECTIVES: To describe the experiences of critical care nurses in making the shift from caring for a brain-injured patient identified as a potential organ donor to maintaining a brain-dead body. METHODS: An interpretive, phenomenological design was used. In 2 trauma centers, 9 critical care nurses were interviewed, and 2 of the 9 nurses were observed. RESULTS: Identification of potential organ donors is made under conditions of prognostic ambiguity. The transition from brain injury to brain death is a period of instability in which the critical care team must decide quickly whether to resuscitate a patient in order to procure organs. After a patient is brain dead, critical care nurses' relationship with and responsibility toward the patient change. CONCLUSIONS: The process of identifying potential organ donors and holding open the tentative possibility of organ procurement illustrates the practical difficulties of early referral of potential donors to organ procurement organizations. Early referral to an organ procurement organization implies a commitment to organ procurement that some nurses may hesitate to make because such a commitment changes their relationship with a brain-injured patient.

Chaplain “DOs and DON’Ts” on Organ Donation

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Jozef Zalot ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Organ Donation ◽  
Organ Procurement ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Organ Donor ◽  
Organ Donors ◽  
Vital Organ ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Donation Process ◽  
Organ Procurement Organizations ◽  
The Relationship

This guide was developed in collaboration with LifeCenter Organ Donor Network (Cincinnati, OH) to offer chaplains a framework for the best possible course of action when they provide spiritual care to family members of patients who are potential vital organ donors. Some organ procurement organizations (OPOs) may want to control the donation process. They are thus hesitant to invite in—let alone collaborate with—any “outsiders” who they believe might undermine the likelihood of procuring vital organs. So how should a chaplain respond when ministering to potential vital organ donors and their families? Should they speak with family members about donation? What should they say? Do OPOs want chaplains to speak with family members? Should there be limits to these conversations? This can be a touchy area, because vital organ donation necessarily entails the death of the patient. This makes the relationship between chaplains and OPOs sometimes strained.

scholarly journals Critical Care Nurses’ Attitudes Towards Organ Donation and its Relationship With Empathy

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 544-555
Author(s):  
Mahnaz Taherkhani ◽  
◽  
Leili Yekefallah ◽  
Leila Dehghankar ◽  
Peyman Namdar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Organ Donation ◽  
Organ Donor ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Reactivity Index ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Dialysis Unit ◽  
Donation Process

Background: Critical care nurses play an important role in the organ donation process, and their attitudes towards it and willingness to register as an organ donor are related to various factors, including empathy. Objective: This study aims to compare the attitudes of nurses in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Emergency Department (ED), and Dialysis Unit (DU) towards organ donation and its relationship with empathy. Methods: This descriptive study with cross-sectional design that was conducted in 2019 in hospitals affiliated to Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in Qazvin, Iran on 222 nurses from the three critical care units who were selected by stratified random sampling method. Data collection tools were Chakradhar’s Organ Donation Questionnaire (ODQ) and Davis’s Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), completed by nurses were completed. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical tests. Findings: The mean ODQ score was higher in DU and ICU nurses than in ED nurses (P=0.23), where the nurses of ICU-General had the highest score (51±6.07) and the nurses of ED-Trauma had the lowest score. The highest and lowest IRI scores were related to DU and ICU-General nurses, respectively. The total IRI score (r=0.13, P=0.04) and its dimensions of perspective taking ( r=0.152, P=0.02) and fantasy (r=0.14, P=0.03) had a positive correlation with the nurses’ attitudes. Conclusion: Critical care nurses have greater than the average score in ODQ. There is a significant relationship between empathy and their attitudes towards organ donation. Their empathy with patients has a significant effect on increasing their attitudes towards accepting organ donation. Therefore, it is necessary to implement educational interventions for changing the critical care nurses’ attitudes in order to increase their empathy.

Texas Non—Donor-Hospital Project: A Program to Increase Organ Donation in Community and Rural Hospitals

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 146-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa J. Shafer ◽  
Roger Durand ◽  
Martha J. Hueneke ◽  
William S. Wolff ◽  
Kimberly D. Davis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organ Donation ◽  
Organ Procurement ◽  
Organ Donor ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rural Hospitals ◽  
Organ Donors ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Johns Hopkins University ◽  
Organ Procurement Organizations ◽  
Hospital Deaths

Identifying and recovering donors from community and rural hospitals present a challenge to organ procurement organizations. A study of non-donor hospitals in the United States was undertaken at Johns Hopkins University, which identified 31 hospitals (in one service area) with the facilities to accommodate organ donation, though an organ donor had not been produced in 3 years. The purpose of this study was to determine whether donors could be produced from these hospitals. A large, geographically dispersed OPO initiated a program consisting of (1) in-house coordinators, and (2) routine notification of all hospital deaths. Following implementation of this program, organ donation increased 387% among the targeted 25 hospitals. The number of hospitals producing at least 1 organ donor increased 133%. The number of organs recovered in the project increased 449%. In-house coordinators, by identifying potential donors and facilitating an organ donor awareness program, can increase the number of organ donors in hospitals with low, but real, donor potential.

scholarly journals Hormone Replacement Therapy: Lebanese Women’s Awareness, Perception, and Acceptance

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
A. Anastasia Salame ◽  
Mohammad J. Jaffal ◽  
Fatin Khalifeh ◽  
Dalia Khalife ◽  
Ghina Ghazeeri
Keyword(s):  
Hormone Replacement Therapy ◽  
Replacement Therapy ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Medical Center ◽  
Hormone Replacement ◽  
Menopausal Symptoms ◽  
World Health ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
The World ◽  
Whi Study

Objectives. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had been the gold standard for the treatment of menopausal symptoms until the publication of the World Health Initiative (WHI) study. After the WHI study, the use of HRT changed among the physicians and patients all over the world despite newer more reassuring data. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of women towards HRT and the factors affecting it for better counseling. Study design. A clinic-based cross-sectional study using a survey was offered to women aged 40 years and above coming to the women’s health center at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) from October 1st, 2017, till March 31st, 2018. The questionnaire included questions about demographics and menopausal symptoms in addition to knowledge and attitudes towards menopause and HRT. Main outcome measures. Our main hypothesis was that women would be aware of HRT as a treatment modality; however, the majority would have a negative attitude towards its usage. Results. The response rate was 87.8%. Seventy-three percent of the respondents had already heard about HRT with 57.9% supporting the use of HRT; however, 47.9% did not know when to use it. The significant predictor for having heard about HRT and a positive attitude towards HRT were having HRT prescribed as a part of treatment and employment status, respectively. Conclusions. Lebanese women are aware of HRT as a treatment option; however, a lack of both proper information and positive attitude towards HRT use was noted.

scholarly journals Ethical and Legal Implications of Elective Ventilation and Organ Transplantation: “Medicalization” of Dying versus Medical Mission

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Frati ◽  
Vittorio Fineschi ◽  
Matteo Gulino ◽  
Gianluca Montanari Vergallo ◽  
Natale Mario Di Luca ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organ Donation ◽  
Organ Donor ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Organ Donors ◽  
Organ Perfusion ◽  
Medical Mission ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
Successful Transplantation ◽  
Italian Context

A critical controversy surrounds the type of allowable interventions to be carried out in patients who are potential organ donors, in an attempt to improve organ perfusion and successful transplantation. The main goal is to transplant an organ in conditions as close as possible to its physiological live state. “Elective ventilation” (EV), that is, the use of ventilation for the sole purpose of retrieving the organs of patients close to death, is an option which offsets the shortage of organ donation. We have analyzed the legal context of the dying process of the organ donor and the feasibility of EV in the Italian context. There is no legal framework regulating the practice of EV, neither is any real information given to the general public. A public debate has yet to be initiated. In the Italian cultural and legislative scenario, we believe that, under some circumstances (i.e., the expressed wishes of the patient, even in the form of advance directives), the use of EV does not violate the principle of beneficence. We believe that the crux of the matter lies in the need to explore the real determination and will of the patient and his/her orientation towards the specific aim of organ donation.

scholarly journals Hospital-based organ donation memorial ceremony: a grounded theory pilot study

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Charles Calhoun Reed ◽  
Elma I Fonseca ◽  
Regina I Reed ◽  
Stacy Foremski ◽  
Sara L Gill
Keyword(s):  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Organ Donation ◽  
Organ Procurement ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Organ Donor ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Organ Procurement Organizations

Objective: Various types of organ donation memorials, to include tree planting, rose garden memorials, candle lighting, donor memorial wall events are conducted throughout the year primarily by organ procurement organizations (OPOs). Although the benefits of such events have not been explored there has been continued interest by hospital staff and administrators to host such events. The purpose of this grounded theory pilot study was to describe the process of healing that a hospital-based organ donation memorial ceremony creates at the individual level and organ donation awareness and advocacy at the community level.Methods: The researchers interviewed nine organ donor family members who were invited to attend a hospital-based organ donation memorial ceremony at one Level I Trauma Center located in South Texas.Results: A 4-stage social process, “makes the hole in the heart smaller”, was identified from the qualitative interview data. Participants journeyed through a four stage process to make the hole in their hearts smaller. The four stages are: choosing to attend, being able to connect, keeping the memory alive and knowing something good came from it. As participants moved between stages their meaning for attendance changed. Families shifted from personal grieving and needing support to supporting other donor families and in the process became advocates for organ donation.Conclusions: The findings from this study validate the benefits of hospital-based organ donation memorial ceremonies. Families reported these ceremonies support their decision to donate, while also providing a means of continued emotional support throughout their grief process. The memorial event provides a safe venue for organ donor families to connect and share with others who have had a similar experience, while acknowledging their loved ones gift of life. Hospital-based organ donation memorial ceremonies and the permanent memorial structure increase awareness of organ donation for the community of donor families, hospital visitors and hospital staff.

Compassion Fatigue and the Healthy Work Environment

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 351-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesly Kelly ◽  
Michael Todd
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Compassion Fatigue ◽  
American Association ◽  
Medical Center ◽  
Academic Medical Center ◽  
Compassion Satisfaction ◽  
Critical Care Nurses ◽  
Healthy Work Environment ◽  
Healthy Work

Background:Burnout is a concern for critical care nurses in high-intensity environments. Studies have highlighted the importance of a healthy work environment in promoting optimal nurse and patient outcomes, but research examining the relationship between a healthy work environment and burnout is limited.Objective:To examine how healthy work environment components relate to compassion fatigue (eg, burnout, secondary trauma) and compassion satisfaction.Methods:Nurses (n = 105) in 3 intensive care units at an academic medical center completed a survey including the Professional Quality of Life and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ Healthy Work Environment standards.Results:Regression models using each Healthy Work Environment component to predict each outcome, adjusting for background variables, showed that the 5 Healthy Work Environment components predicted burnout and that meaningful recognition and authentic leadership predicted compassion satisfaction.Conclusions:Findings on associations between healthy work environment standards and burnout suggest the potential importance of implementing the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ Healthy Work Environment standards as a mechanism for decreasing burnout.

Increasing Referrals and Donations Using the Transplant Center Development Model

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark T Gravel ◽  
Penelope Szeman
Keyword(s):  
Organ Donation ◽  
Organ Procurement ◽  
Medical Center ◽  
Development Model ◽  
Tissue Donation ◽  
Staff Education ◽  
Organ Procurement Organization ◽  
Organ And Tissue Donation ◽  
Transplant Center ◽  
Donation Process

Although transplantation centers directly benefit from organ and tissue donation, they continue to yield low organ and tissue referral and donation rates. Our medical center and organ procurement organization developed a model to increase referral and donation rates. This model, called the Transplant Center Development Model, facilitates the donation process, specializes staff education, and promotes administrative involvement. After it was was implemented at our medical center in 1991, the referral and donation rates from 1988 to 1990 were compared with those from 1991 to 1993. The results showed that after implementation of the model, the organ referral mean increased 47%; the organ donation mean, 50%; and the tissue donation mean, 117%. These findings suggest that this model may be a valuable tool in transplant center development.

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