Organ donation and Norwegian  doctors' need for training.
BACKGROUND
The skill of the person who asks about organ donation and the timing of the conversation may have an impact on the likelihood of obtaining consent from a patient's relatives. The purpose of the study was to investigate the experience that intensive care doctors and neurosurgeons have of treating organ donors and communicating with their relatives, as well as the doctors' own learning needs.


METHODS
In 2008, we sent a questionnaire to all doctors at all intensive-care units at all donor hospitals in Norway, and to all neurosurgeons/neurosurgical trainees.


RESULTS
Altogether 435 doctors (55 per cent) responded to the questionnaire. Of these, 63 per cent were specialists in intensive care medicine. More than half had little experience of organ donation or how to relate to the patients' relatives. Many of them reported a need to learn more about the medical issues associated with organ donation and about communication in this situation.


CONCLUSIONS
Many doctors fail to adhere to recommended practice in their encounters with relatives. Training programmes should focus especially on communication with relatives.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Buskerud University College and Institute of Nursing, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway. hilde.eide@hibu.no
Hilde
H
Eide
Stein
S
Foss
Margareta
M
Sanner
Juan Robbie
JR
Mathisen
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D003657:Decision Making; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000523:psychology; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data