Interaction between transplant coordinator and non-heart-beating donor family members

Thanks to continuous advances in transplantology in Poland, over 1000 patients a year are given a chance for new life or improvement of its quality. The number of identified brain-dead donors increases every year, so is the number of transplanted organs. Unfortunately, despite the substantially improved transplantation system in Poland, the number of patients awaiting organ transplants is markedly higher than the number of donors and still many patients die before the transplantation is possible. In recent years, the worldwide attempts have been made to increase the number of donors to help the largest possible group of patients with end-stage organ failure. One of the options is to re-start non-heart-beating donation. The contact with the family of a potential non-heart-beating donor is crucial for identification, donation and transplantation of organs. Conversations of transplant coordinators with patients' relatives and their information regarding the patient's opinion about organ donation are extremely important for the entire transplantation process.