Program Development and Routine Notification in a Large, Independent OPO: A 12-Year Review

Abstract

Since its inception 12 years ago, a large, independent OPO experienced a 631% growth in the number of organ donors. These increases in organ recovery were achieved initially through successful mergers, and later, following the mergers, through focused management, OPO organizational development, and hospital marketing and system development. The cumulative percentage increases beginning in 1987 resulted in the OPO achieving 27.2 donors per million population. In 1996 a system of routine notification of all hospital deaths was implemented and a 24-hour communications center was operated. After 3 full years of routine notification, 73% of all deaths were called to the OPO, resulting in the following increases: total referrals, 691%; organ referrals, 41%; organ donors, 16%; bone donors, 149%; skin donors, 123%; and heart valve donors, 78%. The 16% increase in organ donors was twice the national growth rate and significantly more than the 2% growth experienced by the OPO in the year preceding the implementation of routine notification. The OPO has demonstrated sustained growth over the past decade in a time when erosion of donor recovery levels is always a possibility and frequently a reality for many OPOs.

Increasing Organ Recovery from Level I Trauma Centers: The In-House Coordinator Intervention

“…Many OPOs have had success with use of requestors of the same ethnicity as the potential donor in the consent process. 28,29 The authors hypothesize that the IHC role may to some degree mitigate the need for requestors of the potential donor's ethnicity because the IHC has a greater opportunity to build trust with families by interacting earlier and spending more time with them than he or she would otherwise have in a more traditional OPO/hospital referral response model. IHC Involved in Discussion of Brain Death With Families.…”

“…Previous research has revealed that families who are satisfied with their hospital experience are more predisposed to donate. 14,29 Donation is a process. Obtaining consent does not consist of simply asking the family if they wish to donate, in essence, "popping the question."…”