National evaluation of healthcare provider attitudes toward organ donation after cardiac death.

Objective: Organ donation after cardiac death will save lives by increasing the number of transplantable organs. But many healthcare providers are reluctant to participate when the withdrawal of intensive care leads to organ donation. Prior surveys indicate ethical concerns as a barrier to the practice of organ donation after cardiac death, but the specific issues that characterize these concerns are unknown.

Research to practice: a national consensus conference.

Purpose: To gain consensus on aspects of the process of gaining consent for organ donation that should be mainstream daily practice.

Methods: A 3-day consensus conference of transplant professionals that provided a forum for research and innovative ideas about gaining consent for organ donation. Four work groups were assembled to address issues of gaining consent from organ and tissue donors: (1) demystifying first-person consent (donor authorization): is it a matter of law?, (2) recovery coordinators: getting from green to great, (3) maximizing the process: old views and new, and (4) donor family support: mother or smother?

Results: Participants reached a consensus about major consent-related practices, identified areas of practice variance, and defined topics in need of further research.

Executive summary from the Intraoperative Advisory Council on Donation After Cardiac Death of the United Network for Organ Sharing: practice guidelines.

The number of organs recovered from asystolic donors is less than anticipated and is explained partially by negative attitudes held by health care providers. To understand the reasons for these beliefs and find solutions, the United Network for Organ Sharing under contract with the Department of Health and Human Services convened the Intraoperative Advisory Council on Donation After Cardiac Death in September, 2001. The Council found that, unlike other medical specialties, operating room health care providers were uncertain of their roles and duties in the care of donors declared dead with cardiopulmonary criteria, known as donation after cardiac death.

Education related to organ donation and transplantation in undergraduate nursing schools: 1993 versus 2000.

Purpose: To evaluate the change in the amount and type of content related to organ donation and transplantation in US nursing schools from 1993 to 2000.

Methods: A survey of 700 nursing schools was conducted in 2000, and its results were compared with results of a similar survey conducted in 1993. Three hundred fifty schools (53.