The Patients Save Lives Program to Facilitate Organ Donor Designation in Primary Care Offices

Abstract

Background: There are about 120 000 people on the US waiting list for a solid organ transplant; nearly 22 people die every day who could be helped through organ donation. Joining a donor registry and informing one’s family of one’s preferences increases recovery rates and can avoid misunderstandings during an emotionally difficult time. Although the vast majority of people support organ donation, only about half of adults have joined a state donor registry. Methods. A 3-group design was used. Primary care physician offices were randomly assigned to either web-based training, in-person training, or a control condition. The control condition consisted of a poster and traditional brochure and donor form placed in the waiting room. In the 2 intervention groups, the Patients Save Lives form was distributed during the check-in process in addition to the poster. Results: A total of 1521 physicians and office staff at 81 clinic sites (48 in-person and 33 web-based) received the training; there were 33 control locations. A total of 21 189 patients were exposed to the intervention over a 6-month period; 761 (8.1%) of 9428 people who were not already registered completed the designation form to be organ donors. There were no donor designations in the control group locations. Conclusion: Organ donor designation can be incorporated into the office check-in procedure without disrupting the workflow or burdening clinicians. The program is available online and can be sustained inexpensively with cooperation between primary care offices and regional Organ Procurement Organizations.

Promoting deceased organ and tissue donation registration in family physician waiting rooms (RegisterNow-1): a pragmatic stepped-wedge, cluster randomized controlled registry trial

“…In a recent trial based in primary care, Degenholtz and colleagues used a standard two-arm trial design where the intervention arm involved primary care staff providing a physical (paper) donor designation form directly to patients to fill out [ 8 ]. They showed that 761 (8.1%) of the 9428 people who were not already registered completed the designation form to be organ donors and none in the comparatively smaller control group who were not directly provided with a form registered (0%; 0/579).…”

“…Family physician offices are a promising—yet under-investigated—setting for promoting organ donation registration [ 7 , 8 ]. Family physicians are a trusted source of health information and most Canadians see their family doctor at least once a year.…”

Fostering cognizance of organ donation: An education-based approach

“…But, as they are not practicing it so these programs should be conducted at national level also. [3839]…”

Knowledge and attitude regarding organ donation among medical students in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional study

“…The previous studies showed that healthcare professionals with positive attitudes towards organ donation are more likely to begin the organ donation process by seeking and obtaining consent from potential donor families 8. Recently, some reviews demonstrated that primary care interventions, for example, delivering organ donation information during practices and annual health check by trained general practitioners and staff, can significantly improve the organ donation registration rates,9 with more similar models were under trial 10 11. These indicated that doctors would play a more active role in organ donation promotion in the future, and they should be more prepared for it.…”