Development of Facts & Tips sheets for point-of-care medical suitability assessment for the potential organ donor.

CARRIE ALVARO¹, ALICE COULSON¹, LESLIE JOHNSON¹, TREVOR ROCK¹, ADAM ROSHAN¹, DEBORAH VERRAN¹

¹DONATELIFE, NSW ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION SERVICE, SYDNEY, Australia

Despite a significant increase in organ donation, the disparity between organ supply and demand continues to grow. This disproportion and changing of donor demographics has led to reassessing thresholds for acceptable risk and to re-consider the use of organs from donors with characteristics once thought to preclude donation. During the past 5 years, the proportion of extended criteria donors (ECD) in NSW has increased 2-fold[i]. 

To address this issue and to encourage the referral of ECDs, DonateLife New South Wales (NSW) has developed 20 Facts and Tip Sheets.  The Tip Sheets have been developed since November 2012 as a point-of-care tool for donation clinicians to provide them with a brief overview of medical conditions known to require further evaluation for donation suitability.  Topics cover a vast range including congenital disorders, malignancies and infectious risks.  Specific to the Tip Sheets are ‘red-flag alerts’ and special investigations required to assist with the assessment of medical suitability.  The Fact Sheets have been developed to assist with  implementation into the wider hospital community.

All donation specialists (medical and nursing) within NSW have been provided with the Facts and Tip Sheets for point-of-care use as well as being a resource reference tool.  The Facts and Tip Sheets can also be accessed from the DonateLife Portal.

To date, there have been at least 10 incidences where the Tip Sheets were used.   In all of these cases they were used as an adjunct to assist with the determination of donor suitability for organ donation.

In conclusion this new information tool has provided staff with a sound scientific rationale for enabling the final decisions made relating to the assessment of donor suitability.  It is planned for DonateLife NSW to continue to develop additional Facts & Tips Sheets.