DEC. 29, 2004 | A team from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) recently joined representatives from some of the largest hospitals in the country at a conference to raise the profile of organ donation.

With more than 87,000 people in the United States waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, the national average rate for organ donation is about 46 percent. Attendees at the second Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative: From Best Practice to Common Practice met to share ideas for promoting organ donation and meeting a challenge by former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson to reach a 75 (or higher) percent donation rate.

UAMS has agreed to accept the challenge, along with other hospitals and entities such as the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency (ARORA), the organ procurement agency for most of Arkansas.

“UAMS, as a progressive transplant center, is committed to be a major donor champion center for Arkansas,” said UAMS College of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A. “UAMS has a reputation for the identification of potential organ donors as well as successful organ transplants.

“But given the very limited supply of available organs and the long list of those in need of organ transplants, collaborating with other transplant hospitals and procurement organizations will allow us to leverage the best practices in organ donation to the benefit of all.”

While at the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative this fall, the UAMS team participated in training sessions to draw on the experience of practitioners from institutions that have already achieved the 75 percent donation rate. The team now plans to assess the program at the UAMS Medical Center and implement changes to reach the 75 percent goal here.

Suzanne Mallory, B.S.N., R.N., the family services coordinator for organ donation at UAMS, noted that the facility has come a long way in raising awareness of the organ donation option since she took the job three years ago. In 2000, she said, there were just two organ donors, compared with 20 so far this year.

“The key to continued growth and success is to weave the concept of organ donation into the mission of the hospital and raise awareness that just one organ donor can save the lives of as many as four or five people,” Mallory said. “We are a transplant center but we can’t do it without the donor.”

Mallory works to identify potential donors and support donor families through the process, answering questions and making sure they understand each step. She also works to raise awareness of organ donation with nurses and physicians, so they remember it as an option.

For more information on organ donation, Mallory can be reached by pager at 405-7158.

Related Links and Organ Donation Resources
“Here’s to Your Health” segment on organ donation (2002): http://www.uams.edu/htyh/0902/organdonation.htm

Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency: http://www.arora.org/

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: http://www.hhs.gov/

Health and Human Services organ donation initiative: http://www.organdonor.gov/

Myths and Facts on organ donation: http://www.organdonor.gov/myths_and_facts.htm

United Network for Organ Sharing: http://www.unos.org/