For and against Organ Donation and Transplantation: Intricate Facilitators and Barriers in Organ Donation Perceived by German Nurses and Doctors.
Background. Significant facilitators and barriers to organ donation and transplantation remain in the general public and even in health professionals. Negative attitudes of HPs have been identified as the most significant barrier to actual ODT. The purpose of this paper was hence to investigate to what extent HPs (physicians and nurses) experience such facilitators and barriers in ODT and to what extent they are intercorrelated. We thus combined single causes to circumscribed factors of respective barriers and facilitators and analyzed them for differences regarding profession, gender, spiritual/religious self-categorization, and self-estimated knowledge of ODT and their mutual interaction. Methods. By the use of questionnaires we investigated intricate facilitators and barriers to organ donation experienced by HPs (n = 175; 73% nurses, 27% physicians) in around ten wards at the University Hospital of Munich. Results. Our study confirms a general high agreement with the importance of ODT. Nevertheless, we identified both facilitators and barriers in the following fields: (1) knowledge of ODT and willingness to donate own organs, (2) ethical delicacies in ODT, (3) stressors to handle ODT in the hospital, and (4) individual beliefs and self-estimated religion/spirituality. Conclusion. Attention to the intricacy of stressors and barriers in HPs continues to be a high priority focus for the availability of donor organs.
Research Unit of General Practice, Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, J. B. Winsløwsvej 9A, 5000 Odense C, Denmark.
Niels Christian
0000-0002-6311-9784
NC
Hvidt
Forschungsstelle Spiritual Care, Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, Munich School of Philosophy, Kaulbachstraße 31, 80539 Munich, Germany; Research Centre Spiritual Care, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, The University Hospital Klinikum rechts der Isar, Langerstraße 3, 81675 Munich, Germany.
Beate
B
Mayr
Hospice Care DaSein, Karlstraße 55, 80333 Munich, Germany.
Piret
P
Paal
Forschungsstelle Spiritual Care, Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, Munich School of Philosophy, Kaulbachstraße 31, 80539 Munich, Germany; Research Centre Spiritual Care, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, The University Hospital Klinikum rechts der Isar, Langerstraße 3, 81675 Munich, Germany.
Eckhard
E
Frick
Department of Transplantation and Cardiology, Skåne University Hospital, 221 85 Lund, Sweden; Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, P.O. Box 157, 221 00 Lund, Sweden.
Anna
A
Forsberg
Institute of Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, Herdecke, Gerhard-Kienle-Weg 4, 58313 Herdecke, Germany.
Arndt
0000-0002-5025-7950
A
Büssing