UNOS DonateLife

March 19, 2003

UNOS to convene donation request consensus conference

Richmond, VA -- The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) will convene more than 50 organ donation and transplantation professionals in Orlando, Fla. April 28-30, 2003 to discuss donation request techniques and reach a consensus on best practices based on current research.  The outcome, once implemented, will be more organs available for transplantation and more lives saved.

Studies have shown that fewer than half of the families approached to donate organs actually say yes.  For years, the donation and transplantation community has worked hard to improve consent rates.  Until now, no concerted national effort has addressed these issues as a community. 

Active participation from the donation and transplantation community will help provide donation advocates an array of tools to help make their jobs more successful and transform valuable research findings into a plan for practical application.

"One of our major goals as an organization is to help increase the number of organs available for transplantation in the United States," said UNOS Executive Director Walter Graham.  "By bringing together the nation's foremost experts on the organ and tissue donation request process with the organ procurement community, we will together decide upon the best approach and how to implement it nationwide."

Research to Practice: A National Consensus Conference will provide UNOS and other research teams producing consent-related studies an interactive forum in which to present findings and allow donation and transplantation community representatives to develop a strategy for converting this new wealth of knowledge into daily "real-world" practice.

Research to be presented at the conference identifies common facts, characteristics, temperaments, and needs among professionals who are routinely successful when approaching families and potential donors about organ donation.

The research projects that will be presented include the following:

• Beyond Proficiency: Successful OPO Donation Advocate Project, UNOS'  behavioral study of the country's most successful donation advocates, funded by the F.M. Kirby Foundation.  In 1996, the UNOS Council for Organ Availability identified consent issues as its number one priority and initiated the precursor of this study.
• Stage-Based Curriculum Training for Procurement Coordinators to Increase Family Consent for Organ and Tissue Donation, a study of the Transtheoretical Model by the South-Eastern Organ Procurement Foundation, made possible by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Family Consent: Developing a Model Intervention to Increase Consent to Organ Donation, a research collaboration of Laura Siminoff and Bob Arnold, made possible through grants from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), Ohio Second Chance Trust Fund, and Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals.
• Study of Presumptive Approach to Consent for Organ Donation, by Art Caplan and Sheldon Zink of the University of Pennsylvania funded by a HRSA grant.
• Interdisciplinary Experiential Training for End-of-life Care and Organ Donation, a collaboration of Johns Hopkins University and the Transplant Resource Center of Maryland, funded by a HRSA grant.
• Project to Increase Organ Recovery From Level I Trauma Centers --  Life Gift Organ Donation Center's program placing "in house procurement coordinators" in trauma centers.

After research team presentations and interactive discussions among researchers and invited participants, the two and one-half day conference will culminate with the public presentation of the objectives, recommendations, and implementation strategies devised by conference participants.  This will be followed by moderated discussion with public attendees including transplant physicians and surgeons, organ procurement organization directors, educators, donation advocates, and program administrators.

Research to Practice: A National Consensus Conference is possible due to funding from the UNOS Foundation and generous sponsorships from the F.M. Kirby Foundation and Barr Laboratories, Inc.

UNOS, a private, nonprofit organization manages the nation's organ transplant system and oversees the world's most comprehensive database of clinical transplant information under contract with the federal government.  UNOS operates the 24-hour computerized organ sharing system, matching donated organs to patients registered on the national organ transplant waiting list.  UNOS seeks to increase organ donation through education and improve transplant success rates through outcomes-based research and policymaking.  UNOS-developed technology applications are recognized internationally by transplant scientists and health officials as the model for organ sharing.