Organ Donor Cards in Resuscitation Room Patients

The percentage of organ donors among the German population is very low, and the supply of organs does not meet the demand. Relatively few organ explantations are performed in Germany, compared to other countries. The central element leading up to organ explantation is the donor's consent. This can be expressed either orally or in writing, in the form of an advance directive or organ donor card. The goal of this study was to find out how many patients in hospital resuscitation rooms had organ donor cards on their person.

The study population encompassed all 2044 patients treated in the trauma surgery resuscitation room at the Essen University Hospital from 1 February 2017 to 31 March 2019. The data were retrieved from protocols of patient possessions made on admission. The measures taken to enhance data quality were sensitization of the documenting nursing staff and documentation by the first author himself. The literature led us to expect a card-carrier rate of 36%.

Over the entire period of the study, 17 organ donor cards were found (0.8%; 95% confidence interval, [0.5; 1.3]). The figures in all patient subgroups were markedly below the expected 36%. The low rate of carrying organ donor cards could not be explained by a poor quality of documentation.

The organ donor card system as it currently exists in Germany is inadequate. These cards are not carried in the emergency situations for which they were developed.