How can organ donation be quicker and less stressful for families?
Researchers at Nottingham University and City St George's University are currently searching for an answer.
There is a type of organ donation called Controlled Organ Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) that happens after doctors stop treatment when a patient can no longer recover.
While this type of organ donation helps more people to have a life-saving transplant, there is a big problem: families may have to wait a long time after consenting to the donation for everything to be organised. These long waits may be distressing for families going through an upsetting time and can cause some to say no to organ donation.
Researchers at Nottingham University and City St George's University want to:
- Find out why these delays are happening
- Understand how the delays are experienced by donor families and what support they need
- Recommend a solution to the problem
If this research is successful, it could make organ donation quicker and less stressful for grieving families, while still helping as many people as possible to get life-saving transplants.