Health professionals and hospital administrators in organ procurement: attitudes, reservations, and their resolutions

The responses of hospital administrators, directors of nursing, intensive care unit nurses, and neurosurgeons are reported to a range of inquiries designed to measure their commitment to organ procurement and thereby identify impediments limiting their cooperation with organ procurement efforts. Descriptive and multivariate statistical techniques are used to analyze data collected from each group. We find general approval for organ procurement but serious hesitation about dealing with donor families, particularly among physicians. Physician support for donation, moreover, is the strongest predictor of other professionals, attitudes toward donation. Neurosurgeons and intensive care unit nurses who believe organ procurement is a professional responsibility have the fewest reservations about facilitating organ donation.