Mobile Application for Communication Increases the Efficiency of Organ Procurement and Transplantation

Abstract

Background: Donor organ recovery is a complex process involving organ procurement organizations and multiple surgical teams from various transplant centers. Nearly 30% of discarded organs are wasted due to reasons related to improper coordination and communication. Problem Statement: Lack of real-time communication results in many hours of preventable delay between procurement and transplant teams resulting in the high volume of organ waste, clinical frustration, and critical delays. Methods: A Plan-Do-Study-Act performance improvement methodology was utilized to design and implement a dedicated mobile communication application (app). Critical time points in the organ offer, procurement, and transplant processes were analyzed from the Report of Organ Offers, and relation coordination metrics were measured. Processes Addressed: Members of procurement and transplant teams in Iowa were interviewed and a dedicated smartphone application was implemented to replace phone calls, e-mails, faxes, and text messages during upcoming kidney offers from July 31, 2017 to July 31, 2018. Outcomes: Teams reported a substantial increase in clinical productivity and case progress awareness, including a noteworthy reduction in phone calls. The relational coordination data indicated substantially higher relationship and communication quality with the app. The Report of Organ Offer data revealed a 35% increase in organs transplanted and a 50% reduction in time from initial organ offer to transplant with the use of the mobile application. Implications for Practice: The use of a dedicated communication application reduces clinical frustration and delays during the coordination of organ offer, procurement, and transplant. Technologies that improve communication have the potential to improve organ utilization.

Single-center analysis of organ offers and workload for liver and kidney allocation

“…9 The application was used by doctors and surgeons, transplant coordinators, procurement coordinators, HLA typists, and other supporting staff and provided team-based messaging, read receipts, the ability to send photos and videos, customized notifications, HIPAA compliance, administrative user management, external messaging capabilities, and audit reporting/documentation. 9 Users reported that the application increased their clinical productivity and awareness of case progress, and reduced redundant phone calls.…”

“…While the impact on time spent by personnel evaluating and communicating about organ offers was not reported, the quality improvement process of developing and implementing the application was followed by a decrease in the time from initial offer to transplant (from 16 to 21 h previously to 10 h with use of the application) and by a 35% increase in the number of kidney transplants performed. 9 Improving the efficiency of the offer process is important for increasing the utilization of donated organs by offering them to centers that are likely to accept them and to avoid increasing the workload placed on organ transplant personnel reviewing the offers beyond a sustainable level. When the increase in the volume of offers received is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in organs transplanted at the center, as we observed in this study, there is no additional reimbursement to support hiring additional personnel to manage those offers.…”

“…Other actions that are being taken at the local level include some transplant centers and OPOs turning to technology to try to streamline communications around organ offers, improving efficiency in that regard. For example, the Iowa transplant center and OPO partnered with a health information technology company to develop and implement a platform and mobile application for communication about organ offers that was historically conducted through a combination of phone, texting, emails, and faxes 9 . The application was used by doctors and surgeons, transplant coordinators, procurement coordinators, HLA typists, and other supporting staff and provided team‐based messaging, read receipts, the ability to send photos and videos, customized notifications, HIPAA compliance, administrative user management, external messaging capabilities, and audit reporting/documentation 9 .…”

“…For example, the Iowa transplant center and OPO partnered with a health information technology company to develop and implement a platform and mobile application for communication about organ offers that was historically conducted through a combination of phone, texting, emails, and faxes 9 . The application was used by doctors and surgeons, transplant coordinators, procurement coordinators, HLA typists, and other supporting staff and provided team‐based messaging, read receipts, the ability to send photos and videos, customized notifications, HIPAA compliance, administrative user management, external messaging capabilities, and audit reporting/documentation 9 . Users reported that the application increased their clinical productivity and awareness of case progress, and reduced redundant phone calls.…”

Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

“…Patients and their relatives will now be able to prepare themselves properly for the procedure with facts about anticipated prices, nearby organ banks, and other important data. Given the various criteria regulating organ donation, such as blood group and form of antigen, the software uses Azure Machine Learning to determine an organ match and approximate the rank and time needed for an expecting recipient (Pahl et al 2020). If a potential donor has an injury or passes away, there is no convenient way to search the records to efficiently preserve the organs.…”