Physician Experiences with Communicating Organ Donation with the Relatives: A Dutch Nationwide Evaluation on Factors that Influence Consent Rates

Requesting Relatives' Consent for Intensive Care for Organ Donation: An Empirical Analysis of Spanish Transplant Coordinators' Practices

BACKGROUND

Intensive care to facilitate organ donation (ICOD) involves the initiation or continuation of intensive care for patients with devastating brain injury for donation purposes. In the Spanish system, relatives undergo an early interview to request consent for this procedure. If they consent, a waiting time is agreed upon in the expectation that death by neurological criteria occurs and donation after brain death takes place. Otherwise, relatives can decide on donation after circulatory determination of death or withdrawal of life support. This study analyzes how Spanish transplant coordinators interact with relatives in early interviews and follow-ups on potential donation pathways.

METHODS

Semistructured interviews were conducted with a random stratified sample of 23 Spanish transplant coordination teams to explore strategies, practices, and perceptions of ICOD consent requests. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis.

RESULTS

Previous coordination with other units and information retrieval regarding patient and relatives' situations is crucial. The development of early interviews includes an introduction to the family, identification of decision makers, empathizing with relatives and offering condolences, reaffirming the fatal prognosis, explaining the possibility of donating based on the patient's will, confirming the family's understanding and resolving doubts, and ensuring comfort and assessing family needs.

CONCLUSIONS

Approaching families to obtain ICOD consent is a regular practice for Spanish coordination teams. It involves a highly professional and diversified set of strategies based on establishing a support relationship for relatives. Our study provides strategies that serve as a reference for obtaining ICOD consent from families in other settings.

The bereavement experiences of families of potential organ donors: a qualitative longitudinal case study illuminating opportunities for family care

OBJECTIVES

To illuminate opportunities for care in the context of deceased organ donation by exploring pre-existing family and healthcare professional characteristics, in-hospital experiences, and ongoing adjustment through the lenses of grief theory, systems theory, meaning-making, narrative, and organ donation literature.

METHOD

Qualitative longitudinal case studies explored individual and family change in five Australian families who had consented to Donation after Circulatory Determination of Death at a single centre. Participants attended semi-structured interviews at four, eight, and twelve months after the death.

FINDINGS

Family values, pre-existing relationships, and in-hospital experiences influenced first responses to their changed lives, understanding of the patient's death, and ongoing family adjustment. Novel behaviour that was conguent with family values was required at the hospital, especially if the patient had previously played a key role in family decision-making. This behaviour and emerging interactional patterns were drawn into family life over the first year of their bereavement.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Training that includes lenses introduced in this study will enable healthcare professionals to confidently respond to individual and family psychosocial needs.

CONCLUSION

The lenses of grief theory and systems thinking highlight opportunities for care tailored to the unique in-hospital context and needs that emerge in the months that follow.

Impact of Donation Physicians on Deceased Organ Donation: A Systematic Review

Background:

An emerging strategy to increase deceased organ donation is to use dedicated donation physicians to champion organ donation. We sought to conduct a systematic review of the effectiveness of donation physicians in improving organ donation outcomes.

Objective:

A systematic review was conducted following Cochrane principles. MEDLINE, Embase, and CINHAL databases were searched from inception to March 26, 2020.

Methods:

Quantitative studies examining the effects of donation physicians on all deceased organ donation outcomes were considered for inclusion. Review articles, editorials and opinion articles, and case studies were excluded. Study selection was completed independently by 2 team members; all discrepancies were resolved by consensus. Two team members independently extracted data from studies.

Results:

A total of 1017 studies were screened, and 12 met inclusion criteria. Included studies were published between 1994 and 2019. Half used an interrupted time series design (n = 6; 50%), 3 (25%) were cohort studies, and 3 (25%) used a before-and-after study design. Outcomes (reported in greater than 50% of included articles) included consent/refusal rate (n = 8; 67%), number of potential donors (n = 7; 58%), and number of actual donors (n = 7; 58%). Across studies and design types, there was an increase in potential organ donors ranging from 8% to 143% (Mdn = 33%), an increase in actual organ donors from 15% to 113% (Mdn = 27%), an increase in donor consent rate from −3% to 258% (Mdn = 12%), and an increase in deceased donor transplants from 13% to 24% (Mdn = 19%) following the introduction of donation physicians.

Conclusions:

Donation physicians have the potential to significantly improve deceased organ donation. Further implementation and evaluation of donation physician programs is warranted. However, implementation should be undertaken with a clear plan for a methodologically rigorous evaluation of outcomes.

An Inventory of Deceased Donor Family Care and Contact Between Donor Families and Recipients in 15 European Countries

Families of organ donors play an important role in the deceased organ donation process. The aim of this study was to gain insight into donor family care by creating an inventory of practice in various European countries. A questionnaire about donor family care and contact between donor families and recipients was developed. Representatives of the organ donor professionals of 15 European countries responded (94%). The donor coordinator plays a key role in care for the donor family. All countries provide information about the donation results to the families, although diminished due to privacy laws. Anonymous written contact between donor families and recipients is possible in almost all countries and direct contact in only a few. Remembrance ceremonies exist in most countries. Half of the respondents thought the aftercare could improve. This first inventory shows that differences exist between countries, depending on the organisation of the donation process, the law and the different role of the professionals. Direct contact between donor families and recipients is rarely supported by the donation organisation. To date there has been limited research about the experience of donor family aftercare and we would urge all donation organisations to consider this as a priority area.

Determining the impact of timing and of clinical factors during end-of-life decision-making in potential controlled donation after circulatory death donors

Controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD) occurs after a decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment and subsequent family approach and approval for donation. We currently lack data on factors that impact the decision-making process on withdraw life-sustaining treatment and whether time from admission to family approach, influences family consent rates. Such insights could be important in improving the clinical practice of potential cDCD donors. In a prospective multicenter observational study, we evaluated the impact of timing and of the clinical factors during the end-of-life decision-making process in potential cDCD donors. Characteristics and medication use of 409 potential cDCD donors admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs) were assessed. End-of-life decision-making was made after a mean time of 97 hours after ICU admission and mostly during the day. Intracranial hemorrhage or ischemic stroke and a high APACHE IV score were associated with a short decision-making process. Preserved brainstem reflexes, high Glasgow Coma Scale scores, or cerebral infections were associated with longer time to decision-making. Our data also suggest that the organ donation request could be made shortly after the decision to stop active treatment and consent rates were not influenced by daytime or nighttime or by the duration of the ICU stay.

A Study of Concerns of Families of Potential Donation After Circulatory Death Donors and Recommendations for Raising Donation Rates

CONTEXT

The request process for donation after circulatory death (DCD) and family concerns about DCD differ in significant ways from the process for, and family concerns about, donation after brain death (DBD). In addition, donation rates for DCDs are typically lower than for DBDs. Although there has been a great deal of research on how the concerns of DBD families impact donation, limited research exists on family concerns and decision-making in the DCD request process.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the concerns of families approached for DCD and explore how those might be addressed to increase DCD donation rates.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

Written request response forms were completed by organ procurement and family services coordinators from 4 organ procurement organizations in 4 different states. They were filled out as soon as possible after speaking with families about DCD.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Responses were marked on a 12-item instrument, and anecdotal observations and detailed comments about family concerns, donor registration status, and decisions made were noted.

RESULTS

Family concerns that block DCDs differ in many ways from those that block DBDs. These concerns arise from stresses peculiar to the DCD situation and must be addressed for these types of donations to increase.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purposes of the study are to identify family concerns about donating organs that are specific to DCD and that may differ from DBD and to distinguish how those concerns might be addressed in ways that increase the likelihood of donation.

Prediction Model for Timing of Death in Potential Donors After Circulatory Death (DCD III): Protocol for a Multicenter Prospective Observational Cohort Study

Background

Controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD) is a major source of organs for transplantation. A potential cDCD donor poses considerable challenges in terms of identification of those dying within the predefined time frame of warm ischemia after withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment (WLST) to circulatory arrest. Several attempts have been made to develop models predicting the time between treatment withdrawal and circulatory arrest. This time window determines whether organ donation can occur and influences the quality of the donated organs. However, the selected patients used for these models were not always restricted to potential cDCD donors (eg, patients with cancer or severe infections were also included). This severely limits the generalizability of those data.

Objective

The objectives of this study are the following: (1) to develop a model predicting time to death within 60 minutes in potential cDCD patients; (2) to validate and update previous prediction models on time to death after WLST; (3) to determine timing and patient characteristics that are associated with prognostication and the decision-making process that leads to initiating end-of-life care; (4) to evaluate the impact of timing of family approach on organ donation approval; and (5) to assess the influence of variation in WLST processes on postmortem organ donor potential and actual postmortem organ donors.

Methods

In this multicenter observational prospective cohort study, all patients admitted to the intensive care unit of 3 university hospitals and 3 teaching hospitals who met the criteria of the cDCD protocol as defined by the Dutch Transplant Foundation were included. The target of enrolment was set to 400 patients. Previously developed models will be refitted in our data set. To further update previous prediction models, we will apply least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) as a tool for efficient variable selection to develop the multivariable logistic regression model.

Results

This protocol was funded in August 2014 by the Dutch Transplant Foundation. We expect to have the results of this study in July 2020. Patient enrolment was completed in July 2018 and data collection was completed in April 2020.

Conclusions

This study will provide a robust multimodal prediction model, based on clinical and physiological parameters, that can predict time to circulatory arrest in cDCD donors. In addition, it will add valuable insight in the process of WLST in cDCD donors and will fill an important knowledge gap in this essential field of health care.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04123275; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04123275

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/16733

Interventions aimed at healthcare professionals to increase the number of organ donors: a systematic review

Background

The last decade, there have been many initiatives worldwide to increase the number of organ donors. However, it is not clear which initiatives are most effective. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of interventions aimed at healthcare professionals in order to increase the number of organ donors.

Methods

We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library for English language studies published until April 24, 2019. We included studies describing interventions in hospitals aimed at healthcare professionals who are involved in the identification, referral, and care of a family of potential organ donors. After the title abstract and full-text selection, two reviewers independently assessed each study’s quality and extracted data.

Results

From the 18,854 records initially extracted from five databases, we included 22 studies in our review. Of these 22 studies, 14 showed statistically significant effects on identification rate, family consent rate, and/or donation rate. Interventions that positively influenced one or more of these outcomes were training of emergency personnel in organ donation, an electronic support system to identify and/or refer potential donors, a collaborative care pathway, donation request by a trained professional, and additional family support in the ICU by a trained nurse. The methodological quality of the studies was relatively low, mainly because of the study designs.

Conclusions

Although there is paucity of data, collaborative care pathways, training of healthcare professionals and additional support for relatives of potential donors seem to be promising interventions to increase the number of organ donors.

Trial registration

PROSPERO, CRD42018068185

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13054-019-2509-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.