Organ and tissue donation‐related attitudes, education and practices of emergency department clinicians in Australia

Abstract

Objective:The ED is emerging as a priority for efforts to improve rates of organ and tissue donation (OTD) in Australia, but little is known of ED clinicians' attitudes, education or practices in the area. We aimed to determine the attitudes and OTD-related educational background and practices of Australian ED clinicians. Methods:This was a national cross-sectional survey of members of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) and the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA); online questionnaire of 133 items, graded responses using Likert and ordinal multicategory scales, plus open-ended qualitative questions. Results:Of 2969 ACEM members, 599 (20.2%) responded; of 1026 CENA members, 212 (20.7%) responded. Respondents were broadly representative of the membership, with male trainee specialists underrepresented. Most ED staff supported OTD, although many were not certain that facilitating OTD was their role, or that the ED was the right place to identify donors. Around a quarter of medical and nursing staff had received no education regarding OTD. Having received education was related to professional status, cultural background, place of work and years of experience, and was significantly associated with attitude towards OTD and whether staff participated in OTD-related tasks. Conclusions:More education on OTD is needed and requested by ED clinicians in Australia, particularly on OTD after cardiac death, management of a donor, brain death and obtaining consent. Postgraduate curricula should reflect this need for more OTD-related education in emergency medicine and nursing.

Australian perioperative nurses’ experiences of assisting in multi-organ procurement surgery: A grounded theory study

“…Moreover, insufficient education provided to health professionals on aspects of organ donation and transplantation continues to be reported in the literature as a global issue not only in the nursing arena but amongst medical and surgical groups (Collins, 2005;Jelinek et al, 2012;Kim et al, 2004;Marck et al, 2012;Melo et al, 2011;Meyer et al, 2012;Rios et al, 2007). Participants in this current study reported that education was lacking and that there was no emphasis on preparing perioperative nurses for the emotional aspects of participation in organ procurement surgery.…”

Organ donation and transplantation: Awareness and roles of healthcare professionals—A systematic literature review

“…The combination of indifference and negativity, amongst HCPs, is inseparably linked with limitation of knowledge and awareness of the ODT process (Ahlawat et al., ) as well as a fear of the inevitability of death (Rios Zambudio et al., ). In spite of some HCPs’ positivity and favourability towards ODT, it is widely reported in the literature that, very often, these do not translate into HCPs’ willingness to donate their own organs for the purpose of transplantation (Chernenko, Jensen, Newburn‐Cook, & Bigam, ; Demir, Selimen, Yildirim, & Kucuk, ; Jelinek, Marck, Weiland, Neate, & Hickey, ; Pont Castellana et al., ; Rios Zambudio et al., ). HCPs’ unwillingness to donate organs for transplantation is, of course, not the focus of this review.…”

“…In contrast, some HCPs demonstrated positive attitudes towards ODT and an exhibited willingness to donate their organs (e.g., by enrolling on an organ donation register and/or by carrying donor cards) and possessed the tendency to identify potential donors. They were also most likely to activate the organ donation process by seeking and obtaining consent from potential donor families (Abidin et al., ; Alsaied, Bener, Al‐Mosalamani, & Nour, ; Chernenko et al., ; Jelinek et al., ).…”

Knowledge and attitude of ICU nurses, students and patients towards the Austrian organ donation law

“…The need for education has been shown to be high (21%) in hospital employees [23]. Education is requested by health professionals, can correct false information and might lead to higher organ donation rates [24-26]. However, also legitimate reasons for their concerns, such as problems in accepting the brain death concept or organ procurement procedures might be present.…”