The role of the critical nurse in the process of organ donation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore Intensive Therapy Unit nurses' knowledge about and attitude towards organ donation, the extent to which they feel comfortable performing specific donation-related tasks, their perceptions of factors influencing relatives' decisions to consent to organ donation and their perceptions about initiatives that could enhance their contribution in and the local situation of organ donation. Data were collected using questionnaires distributed to all nurses working at the local Intensive Therapy Unit (N= 80). Forty-six questionnaires were returned (response rate = 57.5%) and analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences® (SPSS) version 20. Overall, nurses were sufficiently knowledgeable about the concept of brain death, brain death testing and organ donation; however, their perceived and actual knowledge were negatively correlated. Knowledge about the total number of tests performed for a diagnosis of brain death was particularly poor. This suggests that nurses should be more actively involved in the process. Unlike documented research, nurses in this study mostly obtained their information about organ donation from the nursing school / University, whilst only a few reported having attended specific seminars and courses. However, nurses supported the organisation of such seminars and courses to enhance their contribution to the process of organ donation. Hence, such initiatives should be more available and cater for nurses' knowledge needs. Overall, nurses also demonstrated positive attitudes towards organ donation, although most nurses did not believe that organ donation helps the families of deceased donors to cope with their grief. Increased knowledge was not significantly associated with more positive attitudes. Nurses reported feeling moderately comfortable performing specific donation-related tasks. However, they tended to feel uneasy when such tasks involved dealing with relatives of potential donors. This trend is also documented in previous studies. Further research should aim at exploring factors which discourage nurses to approach relatives of potential donors. As in the case of previous studies, nurses with a more positive attitude towards organ donation and who had cared for four or more donors, felt significantly more comfortable performing donation related tasks than nurses with a less positive attitude and nurses who had cared for three cadaveric donors or less. Nurses' perceptions of factors which influence whether relatives consent to or refuse organ donation corresponded with those reported by families of potential I actual donors in the literature. Nurses mostly suggested publicity about organ donation on the media in order to improve the local rates of organ donation.