Do we treat individuals as patients or as potential donors? A phenomenological study of healthcare professionals’ experiences

Orøy, Aud; Strømskag, Kjell Erik; Gjengedal, Eva

doi:10.1177/0969733014523170

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In the expert stage, the nurse has developed a sharpened perception based on numerous experiences and an intuitive perception of every situation, without wasting time on choosing between actions (Benner, ). However, similar to our study, previous research (Meyer & Bjørk, ; Orøy, Strømskag, & Gjengedal, , ; Vargas et al, ) found that regardless of nurses experiences, it was demanding and a challenge to support and inform relatives who had lost their loved one, specifically to ensure that relatives understood the information surrounding the diagnostics of death. In accordance with previous research (Collins, ; Meyer et al, ; O'Leary, ), ICCNs in our study specified a need for education regarding encountering relatives and ethical issues within the topic of organ donation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Intensive critical care nurses' with limited experience: Experiences of caring for an organ donor during the donation process

Simonsson

Keijzer

Södereld

et al. 2020

Journal of Clinical Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: To describe how intensive critical care nurses, whose experience is limited, experience caring for an organ donor during the donation process.Background: Intensive critical care nurses are involved in the care of organ donors and their relatives. This may be challenging and evoke a sense of providing an inhumane care. Few studies have explored how intensive critical care nurses whose experience is limited experience caring for an organ donor during the donation process.Design: An interview study with an inductive qualitative approach was conducted.The study was reported according to COREQ guidelines. Methods:This study was performed during 2019. Participants were intensive critical care nurses (n = 7) from different hospitals (n = 4) with <3 years of experience and involvement in the donation process at least once but no more than three times. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.Findings: Five categories emerged: the donation process is emotionally challenging; supporting relatives is an essential but demanding task; a complex and multifaceted process involving a high level of responsibility; needing appropriate prerequisites in the form of education and collegial support; and providing a dignified care based on respect for the organ donor. Conclusions:Having limited experience as an intensive critical care nurse may not automatically mean that caring for an organ donor is experienced as more challenging than it is for a more-experienced colleague. However, certain intensive critical care nurses whose experience caring for an organ donor is limited found it to be highly demanding due to its complexity, specifically in regard to informing relatives of the loss of their loved one and providing them with support.Relevance to clinical practice: Our study revealed a need for further education. This need could be met by simulation tasks during the specialist education in intensive critical care nursing, where primarily ethical aspects and strategies for meeting with and supporting relatives should be examined and practiced.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.Additional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section.How to cite this article: Simonsson J, Keijzer K, Södereld T, Forsberg A. Intensive critical care nurses' with limited experience: Experiences of caring for an organ donor during the donation process.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Intensive critical care nurses' with limited experience: Experiences of caring for an organ donor during the donation process

Simonsson

Keijzer

Södereld

et al. 2020

Journal of Clinical Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The staff most likely contributed to the relatives’ vague ideas concerning the time of death which is quite often conveyed in the interviews. This is also supported by studies conducted by others, which point out that ICU staff do feel uneasy and do lack verbal clarity when caring for donor relatives during the process of dying and donation [ 27 , 30 – 32 ]. The donor relatives’ confusion about the time of death could potentially jeopardise the trust in the procedures necessary to make organ donation possible.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

“…If this transition of care isn’t clearly defined, the staff may hesitate to be open about the intention with the provided interventions. There are also studies indicating that it is perceived as challenging to provide these interventions and that it sometimes causes discomfort for the staff [ 30 , 33 ]. In our country, the fact that the patient’s intention regarding organ donation cannot be fully explored until death is confirmed, as the national donor registry cannot be accessed before death, is adding to the complexity of this situation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What do people agree to when stating willingness to donate? On the medical interventions enabling organ donation after death

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose of the studyThe purpose of this study is to explore donor relatives’ experiences of the medical interventions enabling organ donation, as well as to examine the donor relatives’ attitudes towards donating their own organs, and whether or not their experiences have influenced their own inclination to donate.MethodsThe experiences of donor relatives were explored via in-depth interviews. The interviews covered every step from the deceased family member being struck by a severe bleeding in the brain till after the organ recovery, including the medical interventions enabling organ donation. The interviews were analysed through qualitative and quantitative content analysis.ResultsBrain death and organ donation proved to be hard to understand for many donor relatives. The prolonged interventions provided after death in order to enable organ donation misled some relatives to believe that their family member still was alive. In general, the understanding for what treatment aimed at saving the family member and what interventions aimed at maintaining organ viability was low. However, most donor relatives were either inspired to, or reinforced in their willingness to, donate their own organs after having experienced the loss of a family member who donated organs.ConclusionsThere is a need for greater transparency regarding the whole chain of events during the donation process. Yet, having experienced the donation process closely did not discourage the donor relatives from donating their own organs–but rather inspired a willingness to donate. This indicates an acceptance of the medical procedures necessary in order to enable organ donation after death.

show abstract

“…Information and the opportunity to ask questions are necessary in order to avoid misinterpretations. Healthcare professionals state that they can be both open and reluctant to providing information to relatives when forecasting the patient's deterioration, but sometimes experience it as easier to care for patients when their family is not present (Oroy et al., 2015). This was contrary to the relatives’ wishes, which emphasizes the importance of being present at the ICU and receiving constant, understandable information.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Life Ceases—Relatives’ Experiences When a Family Member Is Confirmed Brain Dead and Becomes a Potential Organ Donor—A Literature Review

Kerstis

Widarsson

2020

SAGE Open Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction Most healthcare professionals rarely experience situations of a request for organ donation being made to the patient’s family and need to have knowledge and understanding of the relatives’ experiences. Objective To describe relatives’ experiences when a family member is confirmed brain dead and becomes a potential organ donor. Methods A literature review and a thematic data analysis were undertaken, guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses reporting process. A total of 18 papers, 15 qualitative and 3 quantitative, published from 2010 to 2019, were included. The electronic search was carried out in January 2019. Results The overarching theme When life ceases emerged as a description of relatives’ experiences during the donation process, including five subthemes: cognitive dissonance and becoming overwhelmed with emotions, interacting with healthcare professionals, being in a complex decision-making process, the need for proximity and privacy, and feeling hope for the future. The relatives had different needs during the donation process. They were often in shock when the declaration of brain death was presented, and the donation request was made, which affected their ability to assimilate and understand information. They had difficulty understanding the concept of brain death. The healthcare professionals caring for the patient had an impact on how the relatives felt after the donation process. Furthermore, relatives needed follow-up to process their loss. Conclusion Caring science with an explicit relative perspective during the donor process is limited. The grief process is individual for every relative, as the donation process affects relatives’ processing of their loss. We assert that intensive care unit nurses should be included when essential information is given, as they often work closest to the patient and her or his family. Furthermore, the relatives need to be followed up afterwards, in order to have questions answered and to process the grief, together with healthcare professionals who have insight into the hospital stay and the donation process.

show abstract

Do we treat individuals as patients or as potential donors? A phenomenological study of healthcare professionals’ experiences

Abstract: Ethical questions should be discussed more both in educations of healthcare professionals and in clinical practice.

Cited by 14 publications

References 26 publications

Intensive critical care nurses' with limited experience: Experiences of caring for an organ donor during the donation process

Intensive critical care nurses' with limited experience: Experiences of caring for an organ donor during the donation process

What do people agree to when stating willingness to donate? On the medical interventions enabling organ donation after death

When Life Ceases—Relatives’ Experiences When a Family Member Is Confirmed Brain Dead and Becomes a Potential Organ Donor—A Literature Review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About