How the Rate of Organ Donation Increased Again in Iran

Abstract

Introduction With 2 weeks educating the Organ Procurement Units (OPU) directors and staff we could increase the rate of organ donation in Iran but we realized that they are not able to function ideally without help in their provinces. Therefor we created a group of experts in organ donation process and by sending this group to different provinces helped the OPUs to put their train on the rail. Material and Methods A group of experts in different aspects of organ donation (Detection, Brain dead diagnosis and confirmation, Donor Maintenance, Family interview, organ preservation and procurement paperwork) was made. The program named Iranian OPU supporting system (IrOSS). Provinces with higher population but lower PMP were chosen first. The group would go to that province and start motivating and educating (Theoretically and practically) the following groups for one week about organ donation and then for 2 years by periodic travels and strict control of their activities: 1. Authorities including the University director and his/her assistants, Mayor, TV director and religious leaders 2. Director of OPU and the coordinators 3. Brain dead confirmation team 4. Forensics 5. Anesthesiologists and ICU specialists 6. ICU nurses 7. Medical Students 8. Volunteers Results IrOSS course has been hold in 5 provinces which its results are presented in table 1. Conclusion IrOSS could improve organ donation significantly. It shows that an expert team in every country should get the responsibility of periodic educating and promoting the OPUs to help them for improving their organ donation system.