Organ donation: Nursing imperatives

Abstract

While death claim lives and creates vacuum and sadness in people's lives, organ donation provides hope for those who are the recipients and also for the donor family. On an average, 20 people die each day while waiting for a transplant. Organ donation involves harvesting a potentially viable organ from a donor and transplanting it to a matching recipient. Nurses need the necessary knowledge and skills to navigate the ethical, cultural, religious and social issues surrounding the donation of organs and be able to cooperatively with members of the healthcare team in order to facilitate patient and family preparation of the donor as well as the recipient and the smooth retrieval, transport and transplant of organs. The definitions, procedures, resources and the roles and responsibilities of nurses in organ donation are explained in this article.