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Presenter: Bridget , O'Bree, Melbourne, Australia
Authors: Bridget O'Bree, Nina Mao, Nicola Stitt
Awareness and knowledge of eye and tissue donation amongst emergency department registered nurses
Bridget O'Bree1, Nina Mao1, Nicola Stitt1
1Monash Health, Melbourne, Australia
Introduction: Monash Health (MH), which is Victoria’s largest health service, has experienced a threefold increase in organ donation since the implementation of the national reform agenda in 2009. However eye and tissue donation has not seen the same increases especially from the Emergency Departments (ED). MH has three ED’s within the organisation.Objectives: To determine the level of awareness and knowledge of eye and tissue donation in order to meet the learning needs of RN’s from the ED’s within MH.
Methods: The survey was developed and consisted of ten components with an overall total of 20 questions. It was sent to all ED nursing staff via email. A total of 75 responses were received during the two weeks the survey was open, which was a 24% response rate. One ED had a response rate of 49%.
Results: A total of 91% of respondents were supportive of eye and tissue donation. The majority of respondents (93%) thought that less than 50% of the Australian population were willing to become eye and tissue donors, with over half of respondents (63%) believing that less than 25% of the Australian population were willing to become eye and tissue donors. The majority of nurses (84%) were comfortable supporting grieving families and felt the most appropriate time to raise the subject of eye and tissue donation with the family was during end-of-life care discussions (76%). Over half (57%) did not feel they had the necessary skills and knowledge to introduce tissue donation to a family nor did they feel competent to explain tissue donation to a family (64%), although the majority (76%) felt comfortable to notify the appropriate personnel or agency when a potential donor was identified.
Conclusions: RNs working in ED were supportive of eye and tissue donation and were comfortable notify the appropriate personnel or agency when a potential donor was identified. The ED RNs were not comfortable to converse with a family about eye and tissue donation
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