Donor families experience of organ donation: a New Zealand study

To investigate the experiences of New Zealand families who had given approval for organ donation.

A postal questionnaire was sent to all families in New Zealand over a 5 year period who had agreed to donate organs on the death of their family member.

Of the 102 questionnaires sent, 49 were returned completed. No respondents said it was the wrong decision in agreeing to donate organs. 31/49 respondents said that being asked caused no additional stress. 31/49 had previously discussed organ donation within their family. 16/49 knew the information on the donor's driving license. 38/49 said that they understood brain death at the time. 31/49 said the care, understanding and support given by the staff in the intensive care unit helped them most at the time. 23/49 would have liked further support from the transplant coordinators. 32/49 would have liked written information at some stage. Even though they were not asked 25/49 volunteered that they would have liked information about recipient outcome.

Our results reinforce and support the findings of previous research from New Zealand and other countries. These have been used to confirm and revise procedures in the planning of care for future donor families.