Are Front Line Health Professionals Responsible for the Organ Crisis?

Abstract

The process and techniques of organ transplantation have improved significantly; however, there remains a supply-demand mismatch that appears to grow wider as years go by. In this literature review, databases covering published studies from 1990 to 2006 were searched for studies focused on medical doctors' and/or registered nurses' attitudes towards human-to-human organ donation and/or transplantation. The results indicate that healthcare professionals do play a significant part in the procurement of organs for transplantation and may be partly responsible for the lack of transplantable organs available. However, the review further illustrates their complex role within the healthcare system, and suggests that responsibility for organ procurement may be best placed within the domain of specialist personnel.

Keywords

organ donation/transplantation attitudes knowledge support consent duty of care

References

Johnson

. The role of the pediatric nurse in selection and support of potential donors for heart transplantation. Focus Crit Care 1991;18: 167–71.

UK Transplant. Transplants Save Lives. www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/statistics/statistics.jsp. Accessed June 2007.

Human Tissue Authority. Code of Practice 1: Consent. London: DH. 2006.

UK Transplant, Transplant Activity in the UK: 2006–2007. Statistics and Audit Directorate 2007.

Pattinson

. Medical Law and Ethics, 1st Ed. Sweet and Maxwell. 2006.

UK Transplant. How do we get more to register? Bulletin (UKT) 2003;47: 10–12.

Barber

Falvey

Hamilton

. Potential for organ donation in the United Kingdom: audit of intensive care records. BMJ 2006;332: 1124–27.

UK Transplant. Potential Donor Audit: Summary report for the 24 month period: 1 April 2005–31 March 2007. http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/statistics/potential_donor_audit/potential_donor_audit.jsp. Accessed December 2007.

STTCS. South Thames Transplant Coordination Service Annual Report: Year 2006–2007. STTCS 2007.

10.

Human Tissue Authority. Code of Practice 2: Donation of organs, tissues and cells for transplantation. London: DH. 2006.

11.

Jackson

. Medical law: Text cases and materials. Oxford University Press. 2006.

12.

Sque

Payne

Vlachonikolis

. Cadaveric donor transplantation: nurses' attitudes, knowledge and behaviour. Soc Sci Med 2000;50: 541–52.

13.

Watkinson

. A study of the perception and experiences of critical care nurses in caring for potential and actual organ donors: implications for nurse education. J Adv Nurs 1995;22: 929–40.

14.

Kent

Owens

. Conflicting attitudes to corneal and organ donation: a study of nurses' attitudes to organ donation. Int J Nurs Stud 1995;32: 484–92.

15.

Conesa

Rios

Ramirez

. Rural primary care centers as a source of information about organ donation. Transplant Proc 2005;37: 3609–13.

16.

Yuet-Mui

Leung Po-lin

Wai-Kuen

Ngun-Ho

. Attitudes of Hong Kong nurses toward cadaveric organ donation. Am Nephr Nurs Assn J 1997;24: 413–19.

17.

Kim

Fisher

Elliott

. Attitudes of intensive care nurses towards brain death and organ transplantation: instrument development and testing. J Adv Nurs 2006;53: 571–82.

18.

Rios

Conesa

Ramirez

. Attitudes of resident doctors toward different types of organ donation in a Spanish transplant hospital. Transplant Proc 2006;38: 869–74.

19.

Newell

. The reliability and validity of samples. Nurse Res 1996;3: 16–26.

20.

Stoeckle

. Attitudes of critical care nurses toward organ donation. Dimens Crit Care Nurs 1990;9: 354–61.

21.

Ingram

Buckner

Rayburn

. Critical care nurses' attitudes and knowledge related to organ donation. Dimens Crit Care Nurs 2002;21: 249–55.

22.

Duke

Murphy

Bell

. Nurses' attitudes toward organ donation: An Australian perspective. Dimens Crit Care Nurs 1998;17: 264–70.

23.

Bidigare

Oermann

. Attitudes and knowledge of nurses regarding organ procurement. Heart Lung 1991;20: 20–24.

24.

Ozdag

Bal

. The nurse's knowledge, awareness and acceptance of tissue-organ donation. EDTNA ERCA J 2001;4: 201–06.

25.

Bogh

Madsen

. Attitudes, knowledge and proficiency in relation to organ donation: a questionnaire-based analysis in donor hospitals in northern Denmark. Transplant Proc 2005;37: 3256–57.

26.

Akgun

Bilgin

Tokalak

. Organ donation: a cross-sectional survey of the knowledge and personal views of Turkish healthcare professionals. Transplant Proc 2003;35: 1273–75.

27.

Gaber

Hall

Phillips

. Survey of attitudes of healthcare professionals toward organ donation. Transplant Proc 1990;22: 313–15.

28.

Chernenko

Jensen

Newburn-Cook

Bigam

. Organ donation and transplantation: a survey of critical care health professionals in nontransplant hospitals. Prog Transplant 2005;15: 69–77.

29.

Pugliese

Esposti

Venturoli

. Hospital attitude survey on organ donation in the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy. Transplant Int 2001;14: 411–19.

30.

Keenan

Hoffmaster

Rutledge

. Attitudes regarding organ donation from non-heart-beating donors. J Crit Care 2002;17: 29–38.

31.

Johnson

Beaton

Murphy

. First record: a methodological approach to counter sampling bias. Psychol Rep 2004;95: 391–92.

32.

Molzahn

. Knowledge and attitudes of physicians regarding organ donation. Ann R Coll Physicians Surg Can 1997;30: 29–32.

33.

Molzhan

. Knowledge and attitudes of critical care nurses regarding organ donation. Can J Cardiovasc Nurs 1997;8: 13–18.

34.

Griffin

. Organ donation: New strategies for finding organs. New York: The Hastings Center. 2007.

35.

Kim

JRT

Elliot

Hyde

. Korean health professionals' attitudes and knowledge toward organ donation and transplantation. Int J Nurs Stud 2004;41: 299–307.

36.

Tebourski

Jaouadi

Ben Alaya

. Attitudes des professionnels de la sauté à l‘égard du don d'organes et de la transplantation. Tunis Med 2003;81: 482–87.

37.

McGough

Chopek

. The physician's role as asker in obtaining organ donations. Transplant Proc 1990;22: 267–72.

38.

Abbud-Filho

Miyasaki

COS

Ramalho

. Survey of concepts and attitudes among healthcare professionals toward organ donation and transplantation. Transplant Proc 1997;29: 3242–43.

39.

Pearson

Zurynski

. A survey of personal and professional attitudes of intensivists to organ donation and transplantation. Anaesth Intensive Care 1995;23: 68–74.

40.

Adams

Just

Young

Temmler

. Organ donation: comparison of nurses' participation in two states. Am J Crit Care 1993;2: 310–16.

41.

Siminoff

Arnold

Caplan

. Healthcare professional attitudes toward donation: effect on practice and procurement. J Trauma 1995;39: 553–59.

42.

Exley

Serbin

Goldstein

. Approaching families for organ donation: physicians are willing. Tex Med 1992;88: 58–61.

43.

Kent

. Protection behaviour: a phenomenon affecting organ and tissue donation in the 21st century?. Int J Nurs Stud 2004;41: 273–84.

44.

Murray

Youngner

. Organ salvage policies: a need for better data and more insightful ethics. JAMA 1994;272: 814–15.

45.

Cutler

David

Kress

. Increasing the availability of cadaveric organs for transplantation maximizing the consent rate. Transplantation 1993;56: 225–28.

46.

Siminoff

Arnold

Hewlett

. The process of organ donation and its effect on consent. Clin Transplant 2001;15: 39–47.

47.

Jarmolinska

Jarmolinski

. Polish nurses attitude toward organ transplantation. Przeglad Lekarshi 2006;63: 189–93.