HHS Grants Will Expand Study of Strategies to Increase Organ and Tissue Donation

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced grants expected to total nearly $10 million over the next three years to 12 organizations to expand research into strategies that will increase the number of U.S. organ and tissue donors.  First-year funding is approximately $3.3 million.  

Secretary Thompson pledged April 17 to add today’s funds to an expanded research effort when he announced his “Gift of Life Donation Initiative” to reduce the country’s critical shortage of donors.  The Secretary’s initiative includes a “Workplace Partnership for Life” that brings together employers, unions and other employee organizations in a nationwide network to promote donation, and other pro-donation activities.

These grants will help us close the gap between those who need organs and the number of donors,” Secretary Thompson said.  “We need to help people understand the importance of giving the gift of life by being an organ donor.  Our partnership with these organizations will lead to that goal.

Many more donations are needed to help the more than 78,000 people on the national transplant waiting list.  Nearly 5,500 patients awaiting a transplant die each year because of the shortage of organ donors.  In 2000, only about 6,000 deaths in the United States resulted in organ donation, but the estimated potential number of donors per year ranges from 8,000 to 15,000.

These grantees join 22 ongoing HHS-funded projects studying ways to increase family consent for donation, motivate individuals to declare their intent to donate, and then share that decision with family members.  Those projects have received grants totaling approximately $23 million.

The 12 new grantees will focus on strategies such as:

• altering the approach to donor families during the consent discussion;

• utilizing a statewide, comprehensive organ and tissue donor registry system;

• involving attorneys in discussing donation with clients; and

• motivating hospital-based medical personnel to get more involved in donation activities.

The grants are administered by HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration. 

The list of grantees appears below:

Carolina Donor Services, Durham, North Carolina / Award: $373,000
Individual and Campus-Wide Interventions to Increase Donation Intentions Among African-American College Students

This project will evaluate the efficacy of a theory-based innovative individualized intervention for increasing organ and tissue donation intention rates among African-American college students. It will build upon the success of an ongoing campus-wide intervention to increase donation intentions by adding proactive individually tailored interventions to further increase donation intentions.

Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio / Award: $293,123
Utilizing the Structure and Resources of a Multi-Hospital Health System to Improve Organ Donation Rates

This project will test the effects of a program of awareness, education, and training for hospital personnel on rates of organ donation referral and actual donors in a multi-hospital system.

Intermountain Organ Recovery System, Salt Lake City, Utah / Award: $391,578
Improving Organ and Tissue Donation through a Comprehensive Donor Registry and Statewide Community Outreach Campaign

This project will study the utility of a new, comprehensive, centralized statewide organ and tissue donor registry system and its impact on declarations of intent, consent rates, and organ and tissue donation. The project also will use the registry to evaluate both interest in, and actual, unrelated living donation rates within a multi-hospital system.

LifeNet Organ Procurement Organization, Virginia, Beach, Virginia / Award: $266,087
Replication of Family Communication Protocol to Increase Organ and Tissue Donation

This project attempts to increase organ donation and the availability of transplantable organs through replication of a Family Communication Coordinator (FCC) Protocol in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. The hypothesis is that the FCC program will increase organ and tissue donation through better care of families faced with the potential of donation.

National Kidney Foundation of Illinois, Chicago / Award: $272,017
"Corporate Contributions For Life" Supporting Organ/Tissue Donation Awareness in the Workplace

This project will test a model program to increase awareness of organ and tissue donation and transplantation in the workplace. Each project year, five major Chicago-area corporations of at least nine branches each will participate in study. Corporations will be randomly assigned to participate in one of two intervention modes or a control group.

North Mississippi Health Services, Tupelo / Award: $153,028
Intervention Evaluation for Organ Donation in Two Mississippi Communities

This project will evaluate a series of multimodal interventions to improve attitudes toward and commitment to organ donation in two Mississippi counties with very low donation rates and relatively low support for donation.

North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, Great Neck, New York / Award: $294,861
A Systematic Model for the Improvement of Communication with Family Members about Death and Imminent Death in a Non-Transplant Hospital

This project will evaluate the impact of a deliberately timed family communication and support intervention on rates of consent for organ donation in five non-transplant hospitals on Long Island. The intervention consists of utilizing a team of specially trained on-call family communicators to provide information and social support to the family members of patients who are facing imminent brain death.

Organ Procurement Agency of Michigan, Ann Arbor / Award: $317,630
Measuring the Effectiveness of a Culturally Sensitive Approach to Improving Attitudes Towards Organ Donation in the Arab-American/Chaldean Community

In response to the paucity of donation research on Middle Eastern ethnic groups in the United States, this project will launch and evaluate the effects of a comprehensive community awareness campaign on organ donation rates among targeted Arab-American and Chaldean communities.

Trustees/University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia / Award: $418,460
A Study of the Presumptive Approach to Consent for Organ Donation

The purpose of this project is to increase the consent and donation rate for organ and tissue transplantation by altering the approach to donor families during the consent discussion. Transplant coordinators will approach donor families, regardless of the presence of a driver's license or other form of donor designation, using a "Presumptive Approach to Consent".

University of Miami Organ Procurement Organization, Coral Gables, Florida / Award: $279,699
A Model Intervention for Increasing Intent to Donate in Primary Care Centers and Churches in Miami-Dade County, Florida

The purpose of this model intervention is to increase the number of minority organ and tissue donors by increasing intent to donate coupled with family notification of intent to donate among Blacks, Haitians, and Hispanics living in Miami-Dade County, Florida. A secondary purpose is to document project processes and outcomes to enable replication in other multi-ethnic communities.

University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison / Award: $196,924
A Model for the Implementation of Donation after Cardiac Death (DCD) Protocols

This project seeks to produce a verifiable and demonstrable increase in organ donations through implementation and testing of a protocol for donation after cardiac death. This model will include the modification of existing specialized designated requester training modules to include information related specifically to DCD.

Upstate New York Transplant Services, Buffalo and Erie / Award: $80,425
"Legacy for Life" Lawyers Role in Organ and Tissue Donation Education

This project will implement a program to educate the legal community about organ/tissue donation and prepare and encourage attorneys to educate their clients about the critical need for donation. Client declarations of intent to donate coupled with family notification will serve as outcome measures. This intervention also seeks to enhance the level of communication between the legal community and health care providers with the organ procurement organization to increase the likelihood that an individual's wish to donate is fulfilled.