2021: The Difference You Made
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TN expanded our referral criteria in 2021. The expanded criteria are the result of recognizing an increase in the number of family initiated donation discussions for patients without a neurological injury. We began tracking non-neurologically injured donation after circulatory death (DCD) data and outcomes from Jan. 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021, to see if there was an opportunity to save more lives — and there was. With 31 recovered organ donors out of 40 eligible organ donors (a 78% conversion rate) from ventilated patients suffering from interstitial lung disease, pneumonia, respiratory failure or COVID-19, with your help, we helped transplant an additional 39 organs during that timeframe! Starting July 1, 2021, the expanded criteria became our standard of practice. Doing so provided an increased opportunity for donor heroes and their families to create this legacy and save lives. Because of your great care and support of organ donation, an additional 41 organs were transplanted through December 2021 for a total of 80 based on these new criteria. We know we still have a lot of work to do, as we identified an additional 33 missed DCD eligible donors through retrospective medical record review. We need your help to educate and reinforce the new criteria that we know result in saving more lives. Thank you for all you do to support organ, eye and tissue donation!
Coming Summer 2022: MTN’s Donor Care and Surgical Recovery Unit
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TN’s Donor Care and Surgical Recovery Unit (DCU) is nearing completion. Once fully functional, MTN will begin to transfer patients pronounced deceased by neurological criteria to the unit. Each donor will be evaluated for stability prior to transfer. We are hoping to transfer our first donors in early summer 2022.
General organ, eye and tissue education is just a click away! It is available for educational purposes directly from our website.
So, what will change for our hospital partners? We ask that you continue to make referrals when each patient meets clinical triggers and provide updates when a patient’s status deteriorates or when there is a shift to end-of-life planning. MTN will respond on site, complete donation authorization and begin donor evaluations. If the patient is determined to be stable following brain death testing, MTN’s clinical coordinator will arrange transfer to the DCU. MTN will be responsible for costs and logistics associated with donor transfer. Honor walks, if your facility holds them, will now go from ICU to the ambulance bay rather than to the OR. Together, we will continue care and management for all donation after circulatory death (DCD) patients at the hospital and through recovery. By transferring most brain-dead donors to the DCU, we hope to lessen some of the staffing burdens and additional OR hours donor cases generate. Thank you for your continued support of and collaboration with MTN.
Midwest Transplant Network’s Online Hospital Partner Education
The module is 19 minutes long. Following its conclusion, the viewer will be instructed to click on the quiz link below the video on MTN’s website to complete the education requirement. MTN will maintain a record of those who have completed the module and can provide it to your facility by request. Thank you for your engagement and commitment to donation education. Visit the module here: mwtn.org/hospital-education
A newsletter for Midwest Transplant Network's frontline partners • 5
