title: Potential organ donor audit in Ireland.
abstract: As increasing demand for organs is a challenge for transplant services worldwide it is essential to audit the process of organ donation. To address this, a national audit of potential organ donors was undertaken across hospitals with Intensive Care Units (N = 36). Questionnaires were returned on all patients (n = 2073) who died in these units from 1/9/07-31/8/08; 200 (10%) of these patients were considered for Brain Stem Testing (BST), 158 patients (79%) were diagnosed Brain Stem Dead (BSD) and 138 patients (87%) became potential donors. Consent for donation was given by 92 (69%) next of kin and 90 potential donors (65%) became organ donors. There was no evidence of a large number of potential organ donors being missed. Recommendations included completion of BSTs on all appropriate patients, development of support on BST, referral of all BSD patients to the Organ Procurement Service; enhanced co-ordination within hospitals and sustained information/education campaigns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, HSE Dublin Mid-Leinster, Tullamore, Co Offaly. mary.hegarty@hse.ie
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hegarty
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Colreavy
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dwyer
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hanlon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001926:Brain Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D020458:Third-Party Consent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult