Organ procurement requires meticulous organisation, which is often difficult, and should be entrusted to professionals!
As soon as a donor is identified in an intensive care unit, the doctor informs the transplant coordinator of the reference transplant centre. He or she starts by consulting the National Register in order to check that there is no opposition. In the absence of an opposition on the Register, the transplant coordinator ensures that no opposition has been expressed in any other manner. In all cases, the donor's wishes will be respected in full.
The diagnosis of brain death is dated and signed by three different doctors that do not belong to the procurement and transplant teams and must appear in the medical records which will be kept for 10 years in the event of a control.
In collaboration with the local donation coordination team, the transplant coordinator studies the patient's complete records:
- history,
- blood results,
- vital and physical signs,
- treatments in progress, etc.
Once the information has been collected, a "donor" file is drawn up in order to enter into contact with Eurotransplant. This work is implemented in close collaboration with the doctors and nursing teams from the intensive care unit where the donor is located.
The logistical organisation of the different transplants is determined by the organisation of organ procurement.
No borders for transplants… international exchanges are a reality!
The transplant coordinator ensures coordination during procurement according to the organs procured, the time and, sometimes, the donor's instability. He or she participates in the procurement and welcomes the external teams. He or she is the link between the procurement teams and the transplant teams.
Via the transplant coordinator, the surgeons in charge of the transplants are informed about the progress of procurement, the macroscopic aspect of organs, the different surgical times, such as the time at which the aorta was clamped.
After procurement, the surgeon draws up a detailed report of the anatomy of the grafts for the attention of the surgical teams that will carry out the transplants.
After organ procurement, the tissue procurement teams (bone, skin, cornea, etc.) proceed with various procurements.
Once the donor's HLA typing is known, the coordinator communicates this information to Eurotransplant.
It is also the coordinator who is responsible for the conservation of the procured organs and delivery to the transplantation centres.
Without the skills and dedication of the resuscitators, anaesthetists, nursing teams and transplant coordinators, organ procurement and transplantations would simply not be possible.