Knowledge of Technical Nursing Professionals About the Subject of Brain Death and the Process of OrganDonation and Transplantation

Abstract

Background: The low percentage of effective organ donations result from challenges encountered by the team in identifying and maintaining potential donors, the need for knowledge regarding the subject, and the health system’s structural adversities. It is the role of nursing to act actively throughout the family decision-making process, expanding the focus beyond the donation of organs and tissues, respecting the suffering of the family and providing integrated care to those involved. Objective: This study aims to verify the knowledge of technical nursing professionals working in an intensive care unit about brain death, organ donation, and transplantation. Method: A cross-sectional study in which the nursing technicians personnel from the General Adult Intensive Care Unit of a university hospital were interviewed and invited to answer a questionnaire containing demographic variables (age and gender), work (work shift, workload, another job, time in the position and if you have already witnessed the performance of a clinical test, and complementary examination of brain death), and the questions related to the process of organ donation and brain death, with descriptive and multiple choice questions. Result: A total of 137 nursing technicians were included in the study, predominantly female (80%). Of these, 97 (71%) did not consider themselves capable of answering questions about organ donation and transplants. When questioned about participation in events and training that addressed the subject of brain death, organ donation and transplants, 112 employees (82%) had never participated. When asked about “which professionals can diagnose brain death?,” 26% correctly answered the professional who is qualified to perform the diagnosis of brain death. Ninety percent of the study participants correctly stated that you must notify your family to be a donor. However, 50% of the technicians believe that it is necessary to register with an identification document valid in the country. Erroneously, 79% of the interviewees answered that it would not be required for the patient to be on mechanical ventilation to start the investigation of brain death. Conclusion: We concluded that there is a deficit in the knowledge of nursing technicians in intensive care units of the referred hospital regarding brain death and organ donation for transplantation.