Implementing the Lung Donor (LUNDON) acceptability score in U.S. donor management and transplant decision-making: A...

Area of Science:

• Transplantation Science
• Organ Procurement
• Clinical Decision-Making

Background:

• Donor lung shortage limits access to life-saving lung transplants.
• The Lung Donor (LUNDON) Acceptability Score predicts donor lung utilization and outcomes but has limited clinical integration.
• This study addresses barriers to LUNDON score adoption and aims to improve its implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate determinants of LUNDON score adoption in organ procurement organizations (OPOs) and transplant centers.
• Assess the impact of the LUNDON score on clinical decision-making for donor lung management and acceptance.
• Develop and pilot implementation toolkits to support LUNDON score integration into practice.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods pre-implementation study across U.S. OPOs and transplant centers.
• Surveys and interviews to identify barriers and facilitators to LUNDON score adoption (n=302).
• Simulation-based experiments to evaluate LUNDON score impact on donor management and organ acceptance (n=120).
• Implementation frameworks (COM-B, TDF) guide data collection and analysis.

Main Results:

• (Study ongoing, results pending) Anticipated results will identify key factors influencing LUNDON score adoption.
• Simulation results will quantify the score's impact on clinical decision-making.
• Development of evidence-based implementation toolkits.

Conclusions:

• Successful LUNDON score adoption can reduce variation in donor management.
• Increased donor lung utilization is expected, potentially improving access to lung transplantation.
• Implementation toolkits will support widespread use of the LUNDON score.