Emergency medical services knowledge and attitudes about non-heart-beating donors: effect of an educational intervention.

BACKGROUND: More than 750,000 people die of sudden death each year, and many are potential non-heart-beating donors (NHBDs) for lung transplant. Although critical, the role of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in assisting with recovery of NHBD lungs has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge of and attitudes about NHBDs among EMS personnel, evaluate the extent to which knowledge and personal experience with organ donation is associated with attitude, and ascertain the effectiveness of an intervention designed to teach EMS professionals about NHBDs. METHODS: EMS professionals (n = 361) completed measures of knowledge of and attitudes about NHBDs and then watched a presentation by a transplant doctor about traditional organ donation, NHBDs, and transplantation. Participants were able to ask questions during and after the presentation. Participants completed the measures again 3 months later. RESULTS: EMS professionals had a high rate of personal experience with organ donation and positive attitudes toward traditional organ donation. However, they showed lack of knowledge about NHBDs and felt less skilled in being part of the NHBD process, consistent with knowledge scores. The educational intervention was somewhat effective in improving knowledge about NHBDs. Scores improved significantly on 5 of 13 items. CONCLUSIONS: Lung recovery from NHBDs offers the potential of a very large supply for transplantation. This research suggests that with additional training, EMS professionals may be willing to be part of a NHBD recovery team.

Factors related to health locus of control among lung transplant candidates.

As the number of individuals pursuing lung transplantation to treat lung disease increases, transplant team members have an opportunity to maximize patients' chances for post-transplant success through identifying and addressing psychosocial factors that have been previously associated with patients' post-transplant survival, such as health locus of control (HLC). The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to understand the factors associated with HLC in lung transplant candidates. The aims were to (i) identify the demographic factors associated with internal (IHLC), chance (CHLC), and powerful others (PHLC) HLC; (ii) examine the associations between HLC and anxiety, depression, and optimism; and (iii) determine whether these factors explain a significant proportion of variance in HLC. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that age, education, trait anxiety, and optimism explained 20% of the variance in CHLC; gender, trait anxiety, and depression accounted for 9% of the variance in IHLC; and lower education accounted for 5% of the variance in PHLC. Helping transplant team members understand the factors that influence patients' perceptions that their own behaviors impact their health status is important for maximizing post-transplant success.