The BRiC Study - Burnout and Resilience in Organ Donor Coordinators

Studying Burnout and Resilience in Organ and Tissue Donor Coordinators: The BRiC Study

The BRIC study is focused on burnout and resiliency in organ donor coordinators. Through this study we are taking a systematic approach to understand and intervene in the issue of burnout among donor coordinators in Canada. The BRiC study is a three-phase research project focused on systematically investigating ways to minimize the impact of compassion fatigue, burnout, and moral distress, and to identify ways to increase resilience among healthcare workers who support organ and tissue donors and their families at end-of-life and through organ donation. 

 

Organ and tissue donation coordinators face challenging and stressful scenarios on a daily basis, and this exposure frequently leaves them susceptible to the incidence of work-related issues like burnout and compassion fatigue. Research on turnover rates among these healthcare workers has shown that job tenure for coordinators is less than  three years, a possible consequence of work-related issues. Consequently, turnover rates may have a significant impact on the ability of organ donation organizations to optimize donation in their programs.

Little was known about the true extent of work-related issues among organ donation coordinators worldwide, and very little is known about how it may impact coordinators in Canada. Therefore, in the national BRiC study, we are implementing an innovative way to investigate and improve the work-related wellbeing of Canadian organ and tissue donation coordinators through early identification and intervention of work-related issues to support the well-being and the retention of skilled, trained OTDCs, and optimize organ donation among organ donation organizations.

The Burnout and Resilience in Organ Donor Coordinators (BRiC) study is led by Canadian Blood Services and CHEO Research Institute, in collaboration with Canada's organ and tissue donation community. 

Recent project updates

Recent peer-reviewed publications the BRiC study

If you would like to know more and potentially collaborate with this study, please contact our research team at asilva@brocku.ca or ken.lotherington@blood.ca 

About the BRiC Study

The BRIC study is a study focused on burnout and resilience in coordinators. Through BRIC we are taking a systematic approach to understand and intervene in the issue of burnout among organ and tissue donor coordinators in Canada. The BRiC study is a three-phase research focused on systematically investigating ways to minimize the impact of compassion fatigue, burnout, and moral distress, and to identify ways to increase resilience. BRiC is the core project, with additional projects developed as needed for further exploration of particular aspects about work-related issues.

 

Phases

BRiC Phase I  – Scoping review

Overview: We conducted a scoping review of the international literature to develop a comprehensive description of burnout and compassion fatigue, including risk/protective factors, among organ and tissue donation coordinators worldwide.

Results:

  • Burnout and compassion fatigue among organ donation coordinators: a scoping review protocol. Published at JBI.
  • Burnout and compassion fatigue among organ donation coordinators: a scoping review. Published at BMJ.

BRiC Phase II – Mixed-methods study

Overview: We are conducting a mixed-method study (online quantitative survey followed by qualitative interviews) to explore burnout, compassion fatigue, moral distress, resilience and stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic among coordinators and further understand their perceptions about these work-related issues. The results from this study will inform the development of phase III of the BRiC study, an intervention to address the key issues and concerns identified in this population.

Status:

  • We are currently in phase of implementing the surveys and qualitative interviews among Canadian organ donation organizations.
  • We have started the data analysis process of the preliminary findings.

BRiC Phase III - Interventional study

Overview: This phase is to be developed based on results from Phase II and will include an interventional study to help addressing the issues identified in the mixed-methods study and improve the work-related wellbeing of coordinators.

Status:

  • To be developed based on results from phase II.

Additional projects related to BRiC

Workshop evaluation

Overview: A qualitative study to evaluate a workshop conducted in a western Canadian province in spring 2019 that focused on team cohesion and communication among coordinators. Semi-structured interviews were conducted through Zoom in March 2020 to explore the role of the coordinators and their experience of participating in the workshop, and the impact on team dynamics and cohesion.

Results: 

  • Burnout, compassion fatigue and work-related stressors among organ donation and transplantation coordinators: A qualitative study. Published at ICCN.
  • The Experiences and Perceptions of Organ and Tissue Donation Coordinators Participating in a Team Cohesion and Communication Workshop: An Exploratory Descriptive Qualitative Study. Accepted and in press at CJCCN.

Working meeting

Overview: During the working meeting held in Ottawa, Ontario in February 2020, we had the pleasure of hosting a day of deep and meaningful discussions about the topics of burnout and compassion fatigue among coordinators and the BRiC study. Coordinators and administrators from five Canadian organ donation organizations attended the meeting. Two focus group sessions were held during the working meeting to (1) discuss the relevance of the topics and common challenges faced by coordinators; and (2) discuss and identify the best approaches for BRiC phases 2 (data collection) and 3 (intervention).

Results:

We generated a report about the content of the meeting and high-level themes from the discussion that occurred to be shared with the Canadian organ donation organizations.

Reflective Narrative Paper

Overview: A reflective narrative paper was written in collaboration with coordinators from five Canadian provinces and international subject matter experts. Canadian coordinators voiced their concerns and experiences about work-related issues such as burnout.

Results: 

  • Burnout and compassion fatigue among organ donation coordinators: A Canadian perspective. Published at CJCCN.

Conference Presentations

Overview: As a research group, one of our core principles is to share our findings to provide evidence to support advancements in the organ donation and transplantation community and knowledge users. This year, we had the opportunity and pleasure to present the work of the BRiC study at various conferences, as well as to organ donation organizations and coordinators.

Presentations:

  • 2 poster presentations accepted at the International Congress of The Transplantation Society 2022 (the BRiC overview and results from the workshop evaluation)
  • 1 poster presentation accepted at the ITNS 2022 (the BRiC overview and results from the workshop evaluation)
  • Invited speaker to the burnout panel at the CST 2022

Core research team and project collaborators

 

Core Research team