Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify hospital leadership that could implement change regarding who can be a donor and to motivate existing relationships to develop a culture where donation could thrive, thereby boosting the number of organ donors.
Methods: This partner hospital is an 834 bed, level II trauma center, including an attached pediatric hospital. The methodology used to achieve growth and double the number of donors in the facility involved the OPO’s Hospital Services Liaison partnering with the hospital’s donor council members to create new systems, and trusting and guiding leadership to make appropriate changes where needed. The Hospital Services Liaison visited the facility daily, meeting with leadership, providing education and rounding in the units. As leadership relationships developed, a greater understanding was achieved around the need to expand referral criteria and approach toward candidates that would have been previously ruled out for donation opportunities. The hospital spearheaded and developed a Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) Nurse Practitioner (NP) training program, allowing NP’s to pronounce death for DCD cases, in collaboration with revised state law and the OPO’s board.
Results: Recent achievements include more than doubling the number of DCD donors by partnering with donation champions and hospice partners to maximize referral criteria and ensuring that donation opportunities were assessed prior to compassionate extubation. The hospital has increased their number of organ donors year-over-year since 2018, with a 106% increase witnessed in five years, and 62 donors in 2022. Also in 2022, the facility achieved platinum level recognition for Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Workplace Partnership for Life (WPFL) Hospital Campaign, which is now the DoNation campaign, and were recognized as the highest point earning hospital partner in the OPO’s Donor Service Area.
Conclusion: As the need for donation increases, so does the need to expand our thinking and to elevate donation culture within each hospital to reach desirable outcomes. The successful donation culture that was cultivated by a strong working relationship between the hospital and the OPO has produced many results, including a significant increase in positive donation outcomes, creating a foundation for other facilities to participate in the DCD Nurse Practitioner Program, and achieving the highest level of participation in the DoNation campaign.