Qualitative Analysis of Factors That Hinder Intensive Care Unit Nurses in Western China From Encouraging Patients to Donate Organs

Experiences of Intensive Care Unit Nurses in Caring for Brain-Dead Donors

Organ donation after brain death is an alternative to living organ donation, which has various risks and is a means of addressing organ supply shortages. In South Korea, primarily, the organ donation decision is made by the brain-dead donor's family under the guidance of medical staff. Intensive care unit nurses, who are consistently present with patients, can significantly influence families' decision-making process. Hence, nurses' experiences of caring for brain-dead donors should be explored to obtain detailed explanations of the related complex social phenomena. This qualitative study aimed to understand the structure and nature of nurses' experiences using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Data were collected from 10 intensive care unit nurses from a hospital-based organ procurement organization between June 27 and September 10, 2022. Twelve themes and 5 components were identified from participants' interviews, including "nursing with regret," "enduring agony from repeatedly caring for deceased organ donors," "lack of a support system," "deep emotional pain and scarring left after care," and "balancing emotions." It is necessary to clarify the required nursing interventions and role of nurses in intensive care units who care for brain-dead donors and develop specific guidelines to assist them in their work.

Turkish Validity and Reliability Study of "Intensive Care Nurses" Attitude Scale Toward Brain Death and Organ Transplantation

This study was carried out to analyze the validity and reliability of the Turkish adaptation of the "Intensive Care Nurses" Attitude Scale towards Brain Death and Organ Transplantation". The research was carried out as a methodological study and 256 nurses were included in the study. Language, content validity, explanatory and confirmatory factor analyzes were used to analyze data. Twenty-one point 5% of nurses stated that they had an organ donation card. It was determined that the Cronbach alpha coefficient of scale was .85, and item-total score correlations were between .143 and .700. It was established that the scale showed three-factor structure and the first factor was named as "Approving Organ Donation", the second factor as "Discomfort" and the third factor as "Improving The Quality of Life". The Turkish version of the scale was found to be an valid and reliable measurement tool.