Organ Procurement Coordinator

Purpose

The Organ Procurement Coordinator performs a variety of duties, all of which are either directly or indirectly related to increasing the availability of suitable organs and tissues for transplantation. These duties include identification and management of the organ donor; placement of the organs; operating room responsibilities during the procurement process; and post organ donation debriefing.

Duties

• Must participate in a rotating call schedule and carry a smart phone. Call may exceed fifty percent of days in the month.
• Business hours and hours worked are dictated by donor activity. In the event of heavy case load, all efforts will be made to utilize staff listed on the call schedule.
• In the event cases cannot be adequately staffed by those on-call, staff not on-call will be contacted and required to work.
• The AOC will decide when to utilize staff not on call.
• Reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate the needs of off-call staff being called in, however case load factors may limit accommodations.
• Off call staff called into work will be paid 24 hours of call pay beginning on the date called in and continue until case load has eased and off call staff are no longer required.
• Additionally, the call day or days will be counted toward the triple call pay threshold for the given calendar quarter.

Professional Behavior

• Maintains healthy, open, honest, professional relationships with members of the CDT team, hospital staff, donor families, medical examiners/coroners and any other professionals they may interact with in the performance of their duties.
• Informs supervisor or director of emergencies and unusual interactions or conflicts involving all those we serve in our broad scope of practice.
• Maintains confidentiality when interacting with patients, families, staff and public per CDT policy and applicable industry regulations and standards.
• Manages use of time to allow for preparation of educational programs and other department activities when completing assigned tasks.
• Sets up and attends to office duties such as attending and participating in daily morning huddles, participating in weekly Case Review meeting, attending or conferences into all organ donor after action reviews, and participating in CDT QI process.
• Documents, notifies, and communicates reportable events to the Director of Clinical Operations, and/or Executive Director.

Hospital and Community Education and Development

• Hospital Development: Develops and implements educational plans specific to the needs of each assigned hospital. Quarterly visits to assigned hospitals and/or as activity dictates.
• Works with hospital staff to coordinate CEU and non-CEU based educational programs. Participates in the planning of major educational programs.
• Provides feedback to hospitals on compliance of routine referral.
• Community: Establishes communication with community organizations for the purpose of promoting awareness of organ/tissue donation and transplantation.
• Schedules educational programs to meet the needs of local schools, (i.e., informational presentations, after school community programs).
• Establishes communication linkages with religious and community organizations (churches, libraries and hospitals) for community service activities.
• Collaborates with community service organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions) for the purpose of developing organ and tissue donation awareness programs.
• Participates in hospital, business, and community sponsored Health and Wellness Fairs.
• Contributes articles to and assists with distribution of The Center for Donation and Transplant Newsletter ("The Legacy").

Organ and Tissue Donor Identification

• Familiar with age parameters for acceptance of donated organs and tissues.
• Appropriately rules out organs/tissues that aren’t medically suitable for transplantation.

Electronic Medical Record Documentation

• Documents updates and/or outcomes of all vented referrals, prior to change of shift each business day, in the DonorTrac Electronic Medical Record (DT EMR).
• Accurate and up to date documentation of donor information on active vented referrals to include: Patient and hospital demographics, Admission course and current and past medical and social history, Patient hemodynamics (blood pressures, arterial blood gases, inputs and outputs, etc.), Diagnostic imaging results (CT scans, chest x-rays, ultra sounds, etc.), Infectious disease testing results, Additional donor/referral information as required per CDT and UNOS policy.

Family Dynamics/Authorization Process

• Obtains informed, legal authorization from the families of potential organ/tissue donors.
• Follows CDT protocols and practices in line with industry standards and applicable regulations.
• Identifies person of highest priority in the legal hierarchy to include first person consent if applicable.
• Provides information to and offers the option of donation to potential donor families or shares disclosure information when patient is a 1st person consent donor.
• Ensures timely and appropriate support mechanisms for potential donor families.
• Acquires accurate medical/social history from person(s) who are knowledgeable about the donor.

Organ Donor Management

• Under the guidance of the CDT medical director, collaborates with medical/nursing staff in the clinical management of the potential organ/tissue donor.
• Manages organ donor per CDT protocol: Maintains hemodynamic stability (refer to management protocol), Ensures that appropriate organ/tissue specific tests are ordered and performed, Evaluates test results accurately for organ/tissue suitability, Ensures that donor management is adjusted when appropriate based upon medical data and test results, Coordinates communication with members of the recovery team and other transplant programs in a timely manner.

Organ Placement

• Allocates organs to transplant centers per CDT policy and in compliance with UNOS standards.
• Enters all donor information accurately into the DonorTrac Electronic Health Record and the UNOS donor record.
• Generates all appropriate UNOS potential recipient lists.
• Notifies appropriate transplant centers and provides accurate donor and organ specific information.
• Places procured, non-transplantable organs for research (with authorization).

Operating Room

• Coordinates surgical recovery of organs/tissues per CDT policy and procedure.
• Schedules use of OR in donor facility and communicates special equipment and staffing needs.
• Communicates with recipient transplant centers.
• Affirms appropriate equipment for procurement is available.
• Aids in the preservation of organs as required.
• Arranges for transportation of, or delivers, organs to appropriate transplant centers.

Donor Hospital Follow-up

• The organ procurement coordinator returns to the potential donor hospital within 3 business days.
• Provides immediate feedback to hospital personnel involved in the donation.
• Evaluates the potential for process improvement.