Family refusal of eye tissue donation from potential solid organ donors: a retrospective analysis of summary and free-text data from the UK National Health Service Blood and Transplant Services (NHS-BT) National Referral Centre (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2017)

BMJ Open. 2021 Sep 13;11(9):e045250. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045250.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Lengthy-standing undersupply of eye tissue exists each within the UK and globally, and the UK Nationwide Well being Service Blood and Transplant Service (NHSBT) has known as for additional analysis exploring obstacles to eye donation. This research goals to: (1) describe reported causes for non-donation of eye tissue from stable organ donors within the UK between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2017 and (2) focus on these findings with respect to present theories referring to non-donation of eyes by relations.

DESIGN: Secondary evaluation of a nationwide major knowledge set of recorded causes for non-donation of eyes from 2790 potential stable organ donors. Knowledge evaluation together with descriptive statistics and qualitative content material evaluation of free-text knowledge for 126 recorded circumstances of household decline of eye donation.

SETTING: Nationwide knowledge set masking stable organ donation (secondary care).

PARTICIPANTS: 2790 potential organ donors had been assessed for eye donation eligibility between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2017.

RESULTS: Causes for non-retrieval of eyes had been recorded as: household needs (n=1339, 48% of whole circumstances); medical causes (n=841, 30%); deceased needs (n=180, 7%). In >50% of recorded circumstances, causes for non-donation had been primarily based on household’s data of the deceased needs, their notion of the deceased needs and particular considerations relating to processes or results of eye donation (for the deceased physique). Findings are mentioned with respect to the present theoretical views.

CONCLUSION: Eye donation entails distinct psychological and sociocultural components for households and HCPs that haven’t been absolutely explored in analysis or built-in into service design. We suggest areas for future analysis and repair improvement together with potential of solely retrieving corneal discs versus full eyes to scale back disfigurement considerations; public training relating to donation processes; exploration of how request processes doubtlessly affect acceptance of eye donation; procedures for evaluation of familial responses to info supplied throughout consent conversations.

PMID:34518244 | DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045250