Principles of deceased organ donor management and optimisation: an innovative approach to specialist education

In the UK, there is an imbalance between the number of organs available for transplant and recipients on the waiting list. To address this, a course on the principles of organ donor management and optimisation was designed and delivered to specialist nurses in organ donation.

The aim of this study was to undertake a service evaluation using questionnaires to explore the impact of the course.

This evaluation involved a quasi-experimental pre-post design, a quantitative analysis exploring the participants' self-efficacy and a qualitative analysis of the open-ended questions.

The quantitative analysis found a statistically significant difference in all 10 domains in the learners' self-efficacy scores. The qualitative analysis identified four themes: self-efficacy; course challenges; optimised learning; and course design and development.

This blended course, which included virtual simulation, increased the self-efficacy of the specialist nurses and met their learning needs. The course is cost effective and could be applied in other areas of clinical practice.