Getting DCD Donations
Even as numbers of organ donors rise in the U.S., consent rates for donations from families of patients who will die from circulatory death (DCD) remain problematic. The potential DCD donor pool is expanding, but those loved ones are generally much less likely to donate, and too many families of registered donors refuse to allow donation to progress if their patient has died a cardiac death, rather than a brain death.
Our new research on this problem, “A Study of Concerns of Families of Potential Donation After Circulatory Death Donors and Recommendations for Raising Donation Rates,” is in the December, 2020, issue of Transplantation Proceedings. This 1-day workshop for 12 or fewer people is based on the findings in that study and on a refinement of the basic techniques taught in our other workshops.
The objectives are:
1. Apply research findings to increase DCD donation;
2. Find solutions to process problems in the DCD pathway;
3. Gain familiarity with family concerns that block donations;
4. Understand the three models of decision-making around withdrawal;
5. Commit to strategies to reduce DCD families’ suffering;
6. Practice asking for DCD donations using strategies found to be effective in social science research.
Participants should have taken the basic course first, as the strategies taught are sophisticated. The cost is $3500 plus expenses. If you are a new client, wewill ask for a 20% deposit when you book the workshop and will send you instructions for how to put it on. You can contact me at vwvmargaretverble@gmail.com.