Table 6.
Studies showing association between approach and expertise of person making request for organ donation and consent rate for organ donation. Numbers are percentages of relatives consenting to organ donation when factor was present or not, unless stated otherwise
| Author | No studied | Type of study | Factors associated with consent to organ donation | % consenting | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| With factor | Without factor | |||||
| Siminoff et al,w1 2001, US | 420 | Retrospective data collection via chart reviews, telephone interviews with healthcare practitioners or OPO staff, and face to face interviews with family for all donor eligible deaths | Mean comfort of healthcare professionals with answering families’ questions about donation (0-10 scale) | 9.3 | 9 | <0.001 |
| Relatives felt harassed or pressurised to make decision | 34 | 59* | 0.002 | |||
| Healthcare professional other than physician broached possibility of organ donation, followed by meeting with OPO staff person | NA | NA | <0.001 | |||
| Mean time spent with OPO (mins) | 3.6 | 1 | <0.001 | |||
| Gortmaker et al,w2 1998, US | 707 | Data collected prospectively for medically suitable potential donors who had been referred to three organ procurement organisations | Hospital staff and OPO coordinators involved in request | 72 | — | <0.001 (across groups) |
| Request by OPO staff alone | 62 | — | ||||
| Request by hospital staff alone | 53 | — | ||||
| DeJong et al,w3 1998, US | 164 | Structured telephone interview with immediate next of kin 4-6 months after death of relative | Hospital staff first mentioned donation | 52 | 29 | 0.03 (across groups) |
| OPO coordinator first mentioned donation | 13 | 16 | ||||
| Person formally asking for donation first mentioned donation | NA | NA | NS | |||
| Rodrigue et al,w4 2006, US | 285 | Retrospective structured telephone interview with next of kin of donor eligible dead individuals | OPO staff first mentioned request | 72 | 34 | <0.001 |
| Perceived requestor very compassionate | 67 | 25* | <0.001 | |||
| Rosel et al,w5 1999, Spain | 71 | Postal survey sent to all families who had been approached for organ donation at single hospital within 12 month period | Manners of requesting doctor | NA | NA | <0.01 |
| von Pohle et al,w7 1996, US | 81 | Retrospective chart review | Request by OPO staff | 89 | — | <0.05 (across groups) |
| Request by physician | 4 | — | ||||
| Klieger et al,w10 1994, US | 185 | Retrospective review | Request by OPO staff alone | 67 | — | <0.001 (across groups) |
| Request by hospital staff alone | 9 | — | ||||
| Hospital staff and OPO involved in request | 75 | — | ||||
| Evanisko et al,w14 1998, US | 1061 | Staff questionnaire | Staff training (how to request organ donation, explaining brain death, counselling grieving family). In hospitals with high rates of organ donation, 52.9% of staff had received training; in hospitals with low rates of organ donation, 23.5% of staff had received training | Before change | After change | <0.01 |
OPO=organ procurement organisation; NA=not available, data not given; non-significant difference, actual P value not reported..
*Calculated from published data.