• Michael Hickey, Krishan Yadav, Kasim E Abdulaziz, Monica Taljaard, Carly Hickey, Michael Hartwick, Aimee Sarti, Lauralyn McIntyre, and Jeffrey J Perry.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. michael.hickey@unityhealth.to.
• CJEM. 2022 Apr 1; 24 (3): 293-299.

PurposeThere is a worldwide shortage of organs for transplantation. One method to increase the number of organs available for transplant is to increase the number of registered organ donors. The emergency department (ED) may be a suitable venue to disseminate knowledge to patients about organ donation, and to offer an immediate or future opportunity to register as an organ donor. This study aimed to assess emergency physicians' attitudes and acceptability of an ED-based organ donation registration initiative.MethodsWe developed and distributed a national postal survey using a modified Dillman's tailored design technique to a random sample of emergency physicians selected from the Canadian Medical Directory.ResultsFrom a total of 474 delivered surveys, we received 228 responses (48.1%). 98.5% of emergency physicians support the concept of deceased organ donation. 85.1% felt that the emergency department is an appropriate setting to disseminate information regarding organ donation and 77.6% felt that it is an appropriate location to offer an immediate opportunity to register as an organ donor. 74.1% of physicians who responded report to be personally registered as an organ donor.ConclusionMost emergency physicians are supportive of organ donation promotion in the ED, including offering an immediate opportunity to register.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP)/ Association Canadienne de Médecine d'Urgence (ACMU).

12 keywords...

hide…