Causes for an Incomplete Donation Process at a Tertiary Care Hospital

This study aims to identify the causes for the incomplete donation process at a tertiary care hospital.

A descriptive, retrospective study was performed; all potential donors reported to the Transplant Service within the period of 2005 to 2014 were included. Descriptive statistics were used across frequencies and proportions for categorical variables, central tendency, and dispersion for continuous variables.

The total number of deaths reported at the University Hospital (HU) was 8472, of which 815 (n = 815) were reported to COETRA ("Consejo Estatal de Trasplantes"). Among organ or tissue donors, the main known cause of death was head trauma (HT) in 26% (72). Cardiac arrest (CA) as cause of death provided the largest number of donations (141, 57%); of these, 102 (41%) were male and 39 (16%) were female. In comparison, brain death (BD) provided 104 (43%); of these, 65 (27%) were male, and 39 (16%) were female. The age interval was with a higher donation rate was 45 to 49 y (BD 18, CA 22). Donation request was not performed in 359 patients because of medical contraindication 60% (215), rapid deterioration 18% (64), and incomplete donation process 8% (27). Of 452 organ requests, 207 were not accomplished, because of body integrity 28% (57), family disagreement 20% (42), and no acceptance of BE 13% (26).

Opportunity areas: (1) Ensure the notification of all deaths to Transplant Department for identification of potential donors; (2) Reduce rapid deterioration and raise number of completed donation protocols; (3) Increase the donation rate.