Study of the impact of the organ and tissue TPM training programs

Abstract

Introduction Transplant Procurement Management (TPM) was developed and grew to become one of the largest and most international training programs in organ donation and tissue banking. Nowadays, there are 13268 participants from 105 countries, who have been trained in organ and tissue donation, out of which 483 completed the tissue banking training. Methods A survey was developed in 2012 to evaluate the impact of training on both organ donation and tissue banking on developing policies, practices, career options, leadership and the diffusion of knowledge. It was designed an assessment to measure how different groups perceived the benefits of training. The questionnaire was translated into five languages (Spanish, English, Italian, French and Portuguese). A letter of recruitment and a link to the online survey was sent to those who participated in the TPM training courses and active practitioners. In addition, the link was posted on Facebook and distributed at meetings and congresses on organ and tissue donation.There were two Research Questions (RQ). RQ 1 (RQ1): "What is the perceived influence of specialised training programs on career, collaboration, skills and ability in D&T?" RQ 2 (RQ2): "Do the different types of training programs (OL, F2F, local/national/international etc.) and individual characteristics (gender, position at the time of training) have different perceived influences on competencies (career, collaboration, skills and ability) in D&T?" Results 6839 professionals contacted; 1102 wanted to participate in the survey, 87% reported participation in a TPM course, of which 95% selected TPM courses as the most influential. For RQ1, 98% considered influence on knowledge (scored 4.45/5); 93% on technical skills (4.15) and communication skills (4.14); 89% on attitude toward D & T (4,08); 92% in motivation to work (4,23); 91% in the desire to innovate (3,98) and respectively 87% and 79% in the ability to change practices (3.85) and policies (3.51). As for RQ 2, significant main effects were perceived for the training and the type of position, as well as significant effects of interaction with the position and type of training on the different elements of the survey. Conclusion Participation in TPM training courses has positively perceived benefits to organ and tissue donation professionals’ career.