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Testing knowledge of eye donation: a survey of intensive care nurses

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Prous M., Ponto M.

Progress in Health Sciences

2016

vol. 6(1)

86-94

Introduction: Corneal transplantation is a sight restoring procedure that enhances the recipient’s quality of life. Most deceased patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) are potential eye donors, but the number of referrals from this group remains low. Understanding how nurses view eye donation and identifying their educational needs is vital in order to increase donation rates while offering choice to patients and families. Purpose: To assess nurses’ knowledge about the identification and referral of potential eye donors. Materials and methods: An online, 18-item, questionnaire survey assessing the knowledge, training and views towards eye donation was emailed to 100 ICU nurses working in a tertiary NHS Trust. Fifty-eight percent (n=58/100) of nurses completed the questionnaire. Results: The majority of nurses (n=50/58) could not identify the medical contraindications to eye donation, just one was aware of the referral process and only two reported that they received previous training on eye donation. Overall, participants were in agreement that corneal transplants improve the recipients’ quality of life (n= 50/58) and that offering eye donation should be considered as part of end-oflife care (n=43/58). However, only seven felt confident raising the subject with relatives. Conclusion: ICU nurses play a pivotal role identifying and discussing the potential for donation. However, the results of this survey showed that the majority of responding nurses lacked knowledge, training and confidence to effectively undertake this role. Therefore there is a need for educational programmes that focus on eye donation and communication skills to be able to offer the choice to patients and families. There is also a scope for research to evaluate the efficacy of educational programmes and their impact on donation rates

Barriers to ocular tissue donation in acute clinical settings

100%

Prous M., Ponto M.

Progress in Health Sciences

2015

vol. 5

issue 2

134-141

Introduction: Nearly all patients who die in Intensive Care Units (ICU’s) and Emergency Departments (ED’s) are potential corneal donors. However, the number of referrals from these groups remains low.Purpose: To identify the number of potential corneal donors in four ICUs and one ED and to ascertain how many proceed with donation.Materials and methods: The electronic medical records of all patients (n=233) who died in the five participating units from July to December 2014 were retrospectively reviewed using existing ocular tissue donor criteria to assess the number of potential donors. The Eye Donor Database and the Potential Donor Audit were also reviewed to determine how many potential corneal donors proceeded with donation. Results: Out of the 73% (n=170) eligible cornealdonors, 79% (n=100) were potential tissue-only donors and 21% (n=36) had the potential to donate solid organs and at least one tissue (corneas). While all 36 potential organ and tissue donors were referred to the Specialist Nurse in Organ Donation (SN-OD), none of the 100 potential tissue-only was referred to Tissue Services. Of the 36 potential organ and tissue donors referred to the SN-OD, only 11 proceeded with corneal donation.Conclusion: The results of this audit highlight a low conversion rate from a relatively high number of potential corneal donors. There is a need to increase corneal donation awareness among healthcare professionals and the public. It is also recommended the implementation of strategies to maximise the number of referrals.

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Testing knowledge of eye donation: a survey of intensive care nurses

Barriers to ocular tissue donation in acute clinical settings