Patients with non-recoverable illnesses who are undergoing withdrawal of life sustaining measures can donate organs by a process called donation after circulatory determined death (DCD). However, a challenge related to this population’s willingness to donate is the inability to predict accurately if a potential donor will die within an eligible time-period and manner for donation. In addition, it may be painful for families to consent to this process and can limit the availability of organs for donation.
This project aims to implement and evaluate a clinical decision support tool, called Donor Advisor, in six hospitals, which will assist in identifying potential DCD donors.
The project will contribute to:
The project is led by the Children’s Hospital in Eastern Ontario Research Institute Inc.(CHEO-RI).
Dr. Sonny Dhanani, Chief, Critical Care, CHEO Associate Professor, University of Ottawa
Dr. Andrew Seely, Professor, University of Ottawa Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
“We are excited to implement this novel tool in multiple centers and get the feedback from Ontario clinicians regarding its feasibility, usability and potential to materially improve donation and transplantation."
EXPECTED PROJECT COMPLETION IN 2022
The Organ Donation and Transplantation Collaborative is an initiative led by Health Canada with provinces and territories (except Québec), Canadian Blood Services, patients, families, clinicians and researchers. Funded by Health Canada, the project Implementation of Donation Advisor - a Personalized Clinical Decision Support Tool for Improved Efficiency and Effectiveness of Deceased Organ Donation and Transplantation contributes to the Collaborative’s vision to achieve organ donation and transplantation system improvements that result in better patient outcomes and an increase in the number and quality of successful transplantations. For more information, please consult the Organ Donation and Transplantation Collaborative (the Collaborative) website: https://tinyurl.com/ODTCollaborative.