Family Readiness Assessment Tool Enables a Compassionate Donation Process

Midwest Transplant Network recognizes the challenges that hospital staff face when a family adamantly requests immediate extubation and a donation conversation needs to be facilitated. MTN wants to proactively support hospital staff by providing more timely donation conversations with families. Our goal is to jointly assess family readiness for donation conversations with families while:

• Providing on-time donation information and support for family decision making

• Upholding First Person Authorization

• Matching families’ time frames for palliative extubation

Working together to assess family readiness for end-of-life conversations is essential to helping facilitate a smooth and compassionate donation process.

We ask that you please update MTN as soon as possible when observing any of the following:

• When the family is showing signs that they may accept that this is a nonsurvivable injury.

• When the family has made comments that would lead you to think they may elect to move to comfort care in the next 24-48 hours (i.e.):

• Discussing palliative extubation or end-of-life decisions

• Talking about the patient in past tense

• Gathering family to say their goodbyes

• Discussing funeral home arrangements or asking for funeral arrangement resources

• A change in code status to DNR.

• Requesting a chaplain or priest for last rites or final blessings

Please contact Midwest Transplant Network at 800-366-6791. The information you share can help determine the timing of MTN’s contact with the family and what type of interaction is appropriate.