UNOS DonateLife

February 2, 2000

UNOS Releases Preliminary Findings From Requestor Project

Richmond, Va. - The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) today released some preliminary demographic information from its Council for Organ Availability Requestor Project, which is examining organ donation requestors who have the most success in getting families to say "yes" to organ donation.

Currently, only half of the families asked agree to donate a loved one's organs. The study's goal is to increase that consent rate by identifying the best practices of expert requestors and studying their personalities for any similarities.

So far the study has found that the average requestor is a white, married woman with at least a college degree and training as a Registered Nurse. The requestor works an average 48 hours per week, has four years of experience and believes that spirituality and religious beliefs are important.

"The ultimate outcome of this study will be getting more families to say yes to donating their loved one's organs," said Phyllis G. Weber, R.N. CPTC, executive director of the California Transplant Donor Network and study director. "If we can do that, it will have a significant impact on the more than 65,000 patients currently waiting an organ transplant."

Once a personality profile of the expert requestors is identified, then a tool to help organ procurement organizations hire successful personnel can be developed. Identification of the best practices will also result in the creation of a training program to teach new requestors and re-train experienced requestors to increase donation consent rates.

The project's next step is to discover above average requestors throughout the United States and examine their personalities and behaviors. Final results of the study should be ready by year's end.

UNOS maintains the U.S. organ transplant waiting list and brings together medical professionals, patients and donor families to establish national organ allocation policies under contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration. The organization has coordinated nearly 200,000 transplants since it began operating the national system in 1987.