Effect of a multidisciplinary program to improve organ donation in the emergency department

As the emergency department (ED) is an important source of potential organ donors, it may play an important role in the organ donation process.

To assess the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary organ donation improvement program (ODIP) on identifying potential donors and improving organ donation in South Korean EDs.

This study was a retrospective, observational study of the ED-inclusive ODIP implemented in 55 tertiary teaching hospitals contracted with the Korea Organ Donation Agency (KODA) since 2014. The inclusion criteria were: patients in the ED with a serious brain injury and futile prognosis or expected death of the patient within a few days, no contraindications for organ donation, and no objections registered in the donor registry.

The ED-inclusive multidisciplinary approach was implemented to improve organ donation. It included regular meetings of the ODIP committee, hospital visits and staff education, improvement of notifications, and support of a coordination team.

We assessed the changes in the number of deceased organ donors per year and notifications of potential brain-dead donors by medical staff after the implementation of the new ED-inclusive ODIP. The entire organ donation process was monitored and measured.

There was a significant increase in deceased organ donors per million population after the implementation of the ED-inclusive multidisciplinary ODIP of KODA compared to the pre-intervention period: 5.21 vs. 9.72, difference 4.51 (95% confidence interval 2.11-6.91). During the study period, the proportion of deceased organ donors occurred from KODA-contracted hospitals increased from 25.3 to 50.3% in South Korea's total deceased organ donors. Emergency physicians of KODA-contracted hospitals notified increasingly more potential brain-dead donors each year throughout the study period (36 in 2014 vs. 135 in 2018). The longer the period contracted with KODA, the higher the potential brain-death identification rates (P < 0.001).

In this retrospective study, the implementation of multidisciplinary ODIP in the ED led to significantly higher deceased organ donors per million population and awareness of potential brain-dead donors in South Korea.