A Nurse's Roles Involved In Organ Donation

Organ donation is the taking of healthy tissues and organ from a living or dead person to a living recipient in need of a transplantation. There are processes involved in organ donation from the moment someone decides to be an organ donor to the time the organ is transplanted into another person. A nurse’s role in this process is crucial in many ways and for many people (the medical team, the donor/donor’s family, the recipient).
According to the U.S. department of health and human services, 117,376 people are waiting for an organ, 18 people will die each day waiting for an organ, and 1 organ donor can save up to 8 lives. The supply and demand for organs is disproportionate. There are many reasons behind this shortage and they include
However, tissue donation also has a major impact on the lives of many recipients. Some examples are: donated corneas can restore vision, veins and arteries can restore circulation and are used in coronary artery bypass graft surgery, defective valves are replaced with healthy heart valves, bone is used for knee and hip replacement; connective tissue is used to repair joints, and even the skin is used for patients with severe burns. Tissue donation provides recipients life enhancing benefits. Living donation is also an option. People who are healthy and without any complications can donate their organs and even choose whom they want to donate their organs to. The organs that can be procured from a living donor are a lobe of the lung, a segment of the liver, the kidney, a part of the pancreas, and even a portion of the intestine. The living donor has to consent to procedures and testing of the organ to make sure the organ is functioning before the surgery. The living donor should also be given all the information regarding the whole process of donation and all the procedures, along with the risk factors. The risks are similar to any surgery, including bleeding and other complications. If their remaining organ fails, they themselves will need an organ replacement. The living donor always has the option to change their mind anytime during the
Maintain body temperature within normal range by adjusting clothing/modifying environment: Extremes of body temperature puts the body in a hypermetabolic state and increases oxygen consumption, therefore, nurses need to monitor the body temperature of the donor. 8. Grooming/protecting the integument: Keeping the patient neatly groomed helps the family feel better. 9. Communication with others: Allow the family members to express their fears, emotions, and needs. Nurses need to provide concise, honest answers and communication is critical in this delicate situation. 10. Worshipping according to one’s faith: Nurses should help facilitate worship or end-of-life rituals for the family at the bedside to express their grief. 11. Play and recreation: recreational activities leading to death are simple accidents and nurses to remind the family that sometimes things go wrong and no one is to blame. 12. Learn and discover: nurses should provide grief support and give guidance to the family and maybe other health care staff.
On one end is the nurse caring for the organ donor and on the other end are the nurses working with the transplant team and caring for the organ recipient. In both ends, patients and families are going through a lot of emotions and the quality most people look for in a nurse is that of