Between health and death: The intense emotional pain experienced by transplant nurses

While extensive scholarship has been dedicated to the emotional experiences of transplant patients, little is known about the emotional experiences of transplant co-ordinators. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews conducted with ten transplant co-ordinators who have worked for more than 20 years in this job. The transplant co-ordinators spoke of negative feelings and moral distress with regard to futile care of deceased donor family members as well as of living donors. Transplant co-ordinators experience intense negative feelings, emotional pain, and moral distress on a daily basis. Transplant co-ordinators play a pivotal role in the process of obtaining consent for live or dead donation of organ; however, their well-being and job satisfaction are impaired by contradictions between their moral values and the tasks they are instructed to perform. The study exposes the silent emotional suffering of transplant co-ordinators; main findings show that the transplant co-ordinators are torn between contradictory expectations and a gap between values and praxis. It is recommended to offer them training and support for the sake of their retention.