Vanessa Silva e Silva, Canada has been granted the ISODP Congress Scientific Award
Understanding compassion fatigue, moral distress, and burnout among organ donation coordinators in canada: a mixed-methods study
Vanessa Silva e Silva1, Amina Silva2, Laura Hornby3, Ken Lotherington3, Sonny Dhanani4.
1Nursing , Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada; 2Nursing , Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada; 3Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, ON, Canada; 4Research Institute, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Introduction: Organ and tissue donation coordinators (OTDCs) play a key role in organ donation from approaching families about donation to organizing organ retrieval and allocation. However, due to the emotionally challenging and stressful scenarios faced daily, OTDCs are commonly affected by work-related issues (e.g., burnout and compassion fatigue). The incidence of work-related issues among OTDCs can lead to increased turnover and decreased quality of deceased organ donation processes. Still, little is known about the incidence of work-related issues among OTDCs in Canada. Therefore, our aim was to explore the incidence and potential causes of work-related issues among OTDCs in Canada.
Methods: Mixed-methods explanatory sequential design using a cross-sectional survey and qualitative descriptive individual interviews. We invited all (n=175) OTDCs working in Canadian Organ Donation organizations to participate in our study. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (SPSS software) and qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach (NVIVO).
Results: Of 121 OTDCs who responded to the survey, most had seriously considered leaving their job (70%). Participants presented high scores for all three domains of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment); high levels of moral distress; high compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress; and low resilience levels. Additionally, results from qualitative interviews (n=39) illuminated a series of stressors (e.g., poor support), difficult cases (e.g., pediatric), and past experiences from participants regarding work-related issues.
Conclusion: This is the first study including a large heterogenic sample of OTDCs across Canada to investigate work-related issues. Our results indicate that Canadian OTDCs are highly impacted by the stressors and emotional aspects of their job. Intervention and supportive measures are currently needed to support the work-related well-being of those professionals and improve the quality of deceased organ donation in Canada.
