ORGAN DONATION

Issue of Organ Donation in an Acute Setting



Abstract

Health care professionals have a vital role to play in identifying potential organ donors, approaching families for consent, educating the public and nursing the multi- organ donor patient (Smith-Brew and Yanai, 1996). Cantwell and Clifford (2000) discusses, if nurses undertake these roles effectively, they have a direct effect on increasing the number of organ donors and thus reduce the transplant waiting list. However, studies by Roark (2000) and Bidigare and Oermann (1991) found that health care professionals lacked essential knowledge and understanding of organ donation issues and recommended educational programmes to address these deficits.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION4

LITERATURE REVIEW4

AIMS OF THE SURVEY9

METHODOLOGY10

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS10

DATA COLLECTION11

RESULTS12

FEELINGS TOWARDS ORGAN DONATION12

KNOWLEDGE OF TISSUE DONATION17

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS19

REFERENCES21

Issue Of Organ Donation In An Acute Setting

Introduction

Organ and tissue transplantation has been proven to be an effective treatment for end stage organ failure and has been shown to significantly improve the quality of life for patients awaiting a tissue transplant (Cantwell and Clifford, 2000). Most organ donations come from patients who have been certified brain stem dead (BSD) whilst in Intensive Care as a result of a sudden injury or cerebral insult. Solid organs that can be donated include the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and small bowel (UK Transplant, 2004). It is also possible for a variety of tissues to be donated after death these include corneas, heart valves, skin, bone and trachea (UK Transplant, 2004). Currently there is a mass shortage of organs required for transplantation and the waiting list continues to rise and outstrip supply (UK Transplant, 2004) In 2003, 2222 transplants were undertaken within the United Kingdom that were either life saving or improved the quality of life for the recipients, however there were still 7278 people on the transplant waiting list during the same year (UK Transplant, 2004).

Literature review

The following databases were utilised for undertaking the literature search, Medline, CINAHL, British Nursing Index and UK Transplant databases. Keywords for the search included, organ donation, tissue donation, brain stem death and knowledge and education of organ donation. The majority of the literature focuses on nurses attitudes towards organ donation rather than their pre-existing knowledge or educational requirements. Due to the lack of current research, studies from 1990 and onwards were included to maximise the literature specifically focusing upon education and knowledge of staff towards donation. Most of the studies were undertaken within the United States (US) rather than the United Kingdom (UK), due to social, political and cultural differences between the two countries it could be argued that organ donation studies undertaken within the US may not be directly applicable to UK practice.

There are discrepancies in the studies relating to nurses attitudes towards organ donation and their willingness to donate their own organs. Gaber et al. (1990) surveyed the attitudes of 766 American health professionals concerning organ donation, they found that 90% of them had no moral objections to donation but only 45% would want to go on and be an organ ...