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Presenter: Katayoun, Najafizadeh, Tehran, Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Authors: Leo Roels, Beatrice Pelleriaux, Jacqueline Smits
Donating organs? OK, … but tissues? hmm … Any suggestion to improve the situation?
Leo Roels1, Beatrice Pelleriaux1, Jacqueline Smits2
1Donor Action Foundation, Linden, Belgium, 2Eurotransplant International Foundation, Leiden, Netherlands
Background. Whilst there is growing evidence of a relatively strong support for organ donation amongst Critical Care (CC) professionals in Europe, little is known about CCs’ related attitudes, self-reported confidence levels and skills with regard to tissue donation.
Methodology. A total of 18,532 Donor Action (DA) Hospital Attitude Survey (HAS) questionnaires, collected in 6 European countries (Belgium: n=5226, Finland: n=619, France: n=7620, Italy: n=1807, Luxembourg: n=212, Switzerland: n=3048) between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2012, were entered into the DA System Database to compare CC medical (n=3201) and nursing (n=13,218) staffs’ attitudes, self-reported confidence levels and donation related skills with regard to organ and tissue donation.
Results. Average general positive attitudes to donation varied between 96.2% amongst medical and 91.4% of nursing staff (P<.0001). Whilst 92.1% of medical and 83.9% of nursing staff would donate their own organs after death, willingness to donate tissues decreased to 88.5% and 76.4% respectively (p<.0001). Comfort levels with introducing the subject of organ vs. tissue donation varied significantly between medical (65.1 % vs. 52.8% (p<.0001)) and nursing staff (31.9% vs. 26.3% (p<.0001)). Medical staff felt more comfortable with obtaining consent for organ donation than for tissue donation (59.2% vs. 48.7%, p=.0038). Medical staff’s self-reported competence levels with obtaining consent were higher for organs (62.4%) than for tissues (59.3%, p<.01). On average, 26.4% of medical and 14.6% of nursing staff reported to have received appropriate training (p<.0001), whilst 38.9 vs. 51.5% expressed their need for further specific training (p<.0001).
Conclusions. Data presented demonstrates significant differences in CCs’ attitudes, self-reported confidence levels and skills related to organ and tissue donation. Further research on why nursing staff has lower positive attitudes and skills levels compared to medical staff will be necessary. As demonstrated by the educational needs expressed by medical and nursing staff, both organ and tissue donation could benefit from further investing in tailored organ and tissue related training efforts.
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