NIV Congres

Introduction The training ‘Communication about Donation’ (CaD), developed by the Dutch Transplant Foundation in 2007, facilitates professionals to discuss the subject of organ and/or tissue donation with bereaved families and guide them in the donation decision-making process. Requesting for donation is difficult and complex and frequently results in an objection by relatives. The CaD training started in a few hospitals in 2008 and is now embedded in a large number of hospitals in the Netherlands, but is the training effective?

Methods The training was first implemented in 2008 in a pilot setting in 5 hospitals and afterwards psychologists were trained, according to a Train the Trainer module, to become a trainer in their local hospital. For measuring the effect of the CaD training a questionnaire was completed by medical professionals after each training. The consent rate for donation was assessed by comparing consent rates between hospitals with or without the CaD training.

Results From 2008 to 2012 the number of participating hospitals increased from 5 to 53. In total 115 psychologists participated in the ‘Train the Trainer module’ to become a qualified CaD trainer. In total, more than 2500 medical professionals are trained in approximately 263 CaD trainings. Medical professionals highly appreciate the CaD training with an average score of 8 on a range of 1 to 10. The consent rate increased in top clinical hospitals who implemented the CaD training and are active in training medical professionals, compared to top clinical hospitals without the CaD training (4.1% increased consent rate for tissue donation and 5.1% for organ donation).

Conclusion What started as a small initiative to facilitate professionals in discussing donation with relatives, the CaD training now plays a prominent role in more than half of the Dutch hospitals. The training is effective, not only to help professionals discussing the subject of donation with relatives but also in improving the consent rate for donation.