Association of Pre-mature Discussion of Organ Donation and Organ Procurement

Objective: Organ donation is one of the most effective solutions to treating end-stage organ failure. As this field of medicine evolves, researchers and medical professionals seek to increase the number of available organs for transplantation. Organ donation by deceased donor involves collaboration between an organ procurement organization (OPO) and a hospital where a potential donor is located. Pre-mature discussions between healthcare providers and families (“pre-mention”) before those with an OPO may influence families to decline authorization of organ donation. Hypothesis: We analyze the association between pre-mention and variables that donor hospitals and OPOs encounter in the organ donation process. We hypothesize that pre-mention has an association with the following: demographic information, type of donor hospital, cause of donor death, authorization rate (consent to donation by donor family), the total number of organs transplanted post donation (OTPD), and case-time (from when the option of organ donation is presented to when the donor leaves the operating room after organ recovery). We aim to use this analysis to educate healthcare providers, hospitals, and OPOs on the effects of pre-mention. Methods: A database was analyzed from Tennessee Donor Services (TDS) from 2021 to 2024 (n=29,876). Healthcare providers were classified as physicians, nurses, and “other”; nurse practitioners and physician assistants were categorized as physicians. Univariate analysis was performed via two tailed Student’s t-test, Chi-square test, and linear regression. For variables with a p-value ≤ 0.10, independent associations were identified via multivariate linear regression. Results: The incidence of pre-mention decreased as age increased. Minorities were shown to have a higher incidence of pre-mention. No association was seen between sex and pre-mention. There were strong associations between pediatric and university hospitals, and a higher pre-mention rate. Trauma cases had a higher probability of being pre-mentioned. There is a negative association between pre- mention and authorization rate. If pre-mention is conducted by a nurse, a family is less likely to authorize organ donation. Our data suggests that if patients had not experienced pre-mention from a healthcare provider, approximately 14 additional donors would have agreed to consent. Furthermore, these patients could have contributed 37 more organs for transplantation. Longer case-time was associated with pre-mention; specifically, pre-mention was independently associated with a six-hour increase. Conclusion: Educating hospital personnel about the effects of pre-mention and the importance of the OPO can potentially increase the authorization rate, which can therefore increase the number of organs transplanted in patients who are on the waiting list and save lives. Project was supported by Tennessee Donor Services and Meharry Medical College. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.