National Academies Press: OpenBook

Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action (2006)

Chapter: 10 Opportunities for Action

« Previous: 9 Ethical Considerations In Living Donation
Suggested Citation:"10 Opportunities for Action ." Institute of Medicine. 2006. Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11643.
×

10
Opportunities for Action

The recommendations provided in this report set forth a number of actions that the committee believes can have a positive impact on organ donation (Table 10-1). Together, these recommendations identify a set of actions that in isolation might have only limited results but that in concert should strengthen ongoing efforts and open up new opportunities to increase the supply of transplantable organs, thereby saving the lives and improving the quality of life of many individuals.

The committee believes that it is possible to increase the opportunities for organ donation in the two populations of deceased donors: individuals whose deaths have been determined by neurologic criteria and individuals whose deaths have been determined by circulatory criteria. It has been estimated that each year organs are recoverable from approximately 10,500 to 16,800 individuals whose deaths are determined by neurologic criteria. Currently, however, approximately only half of these individuals become organ donors. Nevertheless, more and more organ procurement organizations and hospitals are increasing their donation rates and some are approaching or are achieving 75 percent conversion rates. Increased quality improvement, organ donor registration, education, and research efforts have the potential to sustain these increases and to realize similar increases in other institutions.

Additionally, the committee estimates that each year in the United States organs are potentially recoverable from 22,000 individuals whose deaths are determined by circulatory criteria. This population of potential donors is only beginning to be recognized. In 2004, there were 391 dona-

Suggested Citation:"10 Opportunities for Action ." Institute of Medicine. 2006. Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11643.
×

TABLE 10-1 Actions to Increase Organ Donation

Individuals

  • Register as an organ donor through driver’s license, donor card, or donor registry

  • Inform family members of organ donation decisions

Families

  • Discuss organ donation decisions

  • Honor prior donation decisions made by the deceased family member

  • Provide consent for donation if the deceased family member did not make a decision regarding donation

Healthcare, emergency care, and transplantation systems

  • Implement system changes

  • Sustain mechanisms and support for continuous quality improvement

  • Integrate organ donation and end-of-life care practices and services

  • Expand donation opportunities

  • Increase opportunities for donation after circulatory determination of death

  • Expand and enhance professional education about organ donation and end-of-life care

Nonprofit organizations, academia, government, media, employers

  • Provide multiple opportunities for donor registration and education

  • Encourage registration through donor cards, driver’s licenses, or donor registries

  • Promote programs to increase donor awareness

  • Improve media coverage to increase public awareness and reduce misperceptions

  • Increase public education

  • Coordinate efforts through the use of

  • Donor registries

  • Uniform state laws

  • Fund research on innovative approaches to increasing rates of organ donation and enhancing organ viability

tions after circulatory determination of death (DCDD). Although the committee recognizes the challenges in developing and implementing DCDD programs, the opportunity to save lives necessitates a careful effort to fully explore the recovery of organs after the circulatory determination of death.

It is the committee’s hope that this report will contribute to the development and implementation of new efforts to increase the rates of organ donation. In addition, the committee hopes that these efforts, along with concurrent actions focused on the prevention of health conditions that lead to the need for transplantation and research to explore alternatives to transplantation, will significantly reduce the size of the organ transplant waiting list in the near future.

Suggested Citation:"10 Opportunities for Action ." Institute of Medicine. 2006. Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11643.
×
Page 281
Suggested Citation:"10 Opportunities for Action ." Institute of Medicine. 2006. Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11643.
×
Page 282
Next: Appendix A Acronyms »
Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $80.00 Buy Ebook | $64.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

Rates of organ donation lag far behind the increasing need. At the start of 2006, more than 90,000 people were waiting to receive a solid organ (kidney, liver, lung, pancreas, heart, or intestine). Organ Donation examines a wide range of proposals to increase organ donation, including policies that presume consent for donation as well as the use of financial incentives such as direct payments, coverage of funeral expenses, and charitable contributions. This book urges federal agencies, nonprofit groups, and others to boost opportunities for people to record their decisions to donate, strengthen efforts to educate the public about the benefits of organ donation, and continue to improve donation systems. Organ Donation also supports initiatives to increase donations from people whose deaths are the result of irreversible cardiac failure. This book emphasizes that all members of society have a stake in an adequate supply of organs for patients in need, because each individual is a potential recipient as well as a potential donor.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!