Organ Donation in the Emergency Department: Awareness and Opportunities.

Background The only cure for end-organ failure is transplantation. Unfortunately, there are fewer organ donors than patients. Currently, the majority of organ donations come from live or brain-dead donors. In order to expand the pool of potential organ donors, the emergency department should be utilized effectively. Objectives The primary goal of this research is to determine emergency physicians' knowledge, awareness, and attitude about organ donation. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted through different hospitals in Saudi Arabia. It includes 106 physicians in the adult emergency departments. Results The majority (84.9%) of the participants never reported any case in the emergency department as a potential case for organ donation. In addition, 54.8% of the participants report having little to no knowledge of the ethical issues of organ donation. Furthermore, 66.1% of respondents claim to have little to no knowledge of the goals and duties of the SCOT (Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation). It was interesting to see that 96.2% of the participants reported that their organizations do not have any policies or procedures in place regarding organ donations. Regarding education, 99 (93.4%) physicians did not participate in any organ donation course, training, or teaching program about organ donation. At the same time, 67 (63.2%) physicians concurred that participation in a training program is essential. Moreover, 68 (64.2%) physicians believed that organ donation should be a part of every end-of-life case. In order to improve the donation process in the emergency department, 88 (83%) physicians would want a well-established program with defined policies and procedures. Conclusion According to our findings, the emergency physician has inadequate expertise and information on organ donation rules and procedures, which has resulted in a missed opportunity to recruit more potential donors. We recommend instituting clear policy and procedures and educating the physicians and all emergency medicine staff to have better outcome.

Communication Challenges While Dealing With a Deaf Patient in the Emergency Department and Suggested Solutions.

Background In the emergency department (ED), dealing with deaf patients presents unique difficulties and obstacles. There is insufficient time to arrange for an interpreter. While the voice of the deaf patient was the focus of earlier studies, in this study, we are interested in learning about ED physicians' difficulties and expertise. In addition, we aim to determine which approaches they suggest to address these issues. Methodology A cross-sectional analysis was conducted among 166 emergency physicians working in pediatric and adult departments. The data were collected from physicians working in different centers in Riyadh city from January 2022 to March 2022. The data analysis was performed using SPSS version 23 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results In their department policy and procedures, 74.1% of participants claimed no policy or procedure for dealing with deaf patients. The majority of available communication methods were family interpreters (63.9%) and writing on paper (16.9%). Overall, 88% of respondents did not attend any training on dealing with deaf patients, despite the fact that 83.7% thought such training should be available. Furthermore, 90.4% of the participants did not know sign language. Concerning information about the Saudi Association for Hearing Impairment Services, 74.1% were unaware of such services. Concerning modern applications on smartphones, 97.6% were unaware of any existing communication app that could aid in communication with deaf patients. Conclusions In this study, we identified a significant deficiency in the knowledge and skills required to communicate with deaf patients. Hence, we recommend mandating education for physicians and requiring each institution to have an interpreter available 24 hours a day, either in person or via high-quality remote video.