Abstract
The refusal rate for organ donation in the UK is 42%, among the highest in Europe. We extracted data on every family approach for donation in UK ICUs or Emergency Departments between 1st April 2012 and 30th September 2013, and performed multiple logistic regression to identify modifiable factors associated with consent. Complete data were available for 4703 of 4899 approaches during the study period. Consent for donation after brain death was 68.9%, and for donation after circulatory death 56.5% (p<0.0001). Patient ethnicity, knowledge of a patient's wishes and involvement of a specialist nurse in organ donation in the approach were strongly associated with consent (p<0.0001). The impact of the specialist nurse was stronger for donation after circulatory death than for donation after brain death, even after accounting for the impact of prior knowledge of patients' wishes. Involvement of the specialist nurse in the approach, encouraging family discussions about donation wishes and promotion of the organ donor register are key strategies to increase UK consent rates, and are supported by this study.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
