Attitudes of nurses to donor organ retrieval and visiting surgical teams. The Papworth experience

Donor organ retrieval can be a stressful procedure for theatre nurses. These experiences may be influenced by the relationship between visiting surgical teams and nurses at donor hospitals. When donor organs are referred to Papworth Hospital and a suitable recipient identified on the waiting list, a visit to the referring hospital is organised in order to retrieve the organs. The multidisciplinary donor team is comprised of a surgeon, anaesthetist, theatre nurse and technician who may find themselves called, often at short notice, to travel anywhere in the United Kingdom. Most donors are multi-organ donors which means that surgical teams, visiting or local, will be working together retrieving the heart and/or lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, cornea, long bones and skin. This multi faceted procedure on the donor and the number of visiting medical staff in theatre, may have an impact on local theatre nurses of which the visitors should be aware. The retrieval of thoracic organs takes 3-4 hours and the team needs to leave as soon as the excised organs have been packed so that preservation is not compromised.