Donor Dilemma: A National Simulation-Based Case Curriculum for Teaching Donor Call Decision-Making in Infectious...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Transplant Infectious Diseases
• Clinical Reasoning

Background:

• Donor-call decision-making in organ allocation is critical but challenging due to uncertainty and time pressure.
• Training in transplant infectious diseases (TID) for this skill is often inconsistent, with limited educational resources.
• Developing effective strategies to practice donor-call decision-making is essential for infectious diseases (ID) trainees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived impact of an asynchronous, case-based progressive disclosure curriculum.
• To support clinical reasoning skills among infectious diseases trainees during donor-call decision-making.

Main Methods:

• A pilot feasibility study developed a 12-module, self-paced, asynchronous donor-call curriculum with real-world case scenarios.
• The curriculum was disseminated nationally to ID and TID training programs.
• Participants completed all modules and a post-curriculum survey on feasibility and educational impact.

Main Results:

• 29 trainees from 22 centers completed the curriculum, most with limited prior donor-call experience.
• Significant improvements were reported in confidence for clinical reasoning (86%) and donor suitability assessment (97%).
• The curriculum was feasible within clinical workflows and highly recommended (97%), with notable benefits for trainees with minimal transplant experience.

Conclusions:

• An asynchronous, case-based progressive disclosure curriculum for donor-call decision-making is feasible and well-received.
• This scalable educational approach effectively supports clinical reasoning in transplant infectious diseases training.
• The framework may be applicable to other medical fields requiring rapid decision-making under limited information.