Korean J Transplant.  2022 Dec;36(4):237-244. 10.4285/kjt.22.0041.

The effect of the Iranian family approachspecific course (IrFASC) on obtaining consent from deceased organ donors’ families

• Radi E
• Ghanavati M
• Khoundabi B
• Rahmani J
• Nahafizadeh K
• Shadnoush M
• Broumand B
• Ghobadi O

• KMID: 2537534
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4285/kjt.22.0041

Abstract

Background
A family approach and obtaining consent from the families of potential brain-dead donors is the most important step of organ procurement in countries where an opt-in policy applies to organ donation. Health care staff’s communication skills and ability to have conversations about donation under circumstances of grief and emotion play a crucial role in families’ decision-making process and, consequently, the consent rate.
Methods
A new training course, called the Iranian family approach-specific course (IrFASC), was designed with the aim of improving interviewers’ skills and knowledge, sharing experiences, and increasing coordinators’ confidence. The IrFASC was administered to three groups of coordinators. The family consent rate of participants in the same intervals (12 months for group 1, 6 months for group 2, and 3 months for group 3) was measured before and after the training course. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to make comparisons.
Results
The family consent rate was significantly different for all participants before and after the training, increasing from 50.0% to 62.5% (P=0.037). Furthermore, sex (P=0.005), previous training (P=0.090), education (P=0.068), and duration of work as a coordinator (P=0.008) had significant effects on the difference in families’ consent rates before and after IrFASC.
Conclusions
This study showed that the IrFASC training method could improve the success of coordinators in obtaining family consent.

Keyword

Tissue and organ procurement; Education; Organ transplantation

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Family consent rate change by (A) sex and (B) training status.

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