ORGAN DONATION IN THE ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT - A STUDY OF RELATIVES VIEWS

Objective-To determine whether recently bereaved people would object t o being asked about organ donation immediately after the death of thei r relative. Methods-A telephone interview of 78 recently bereaved rela tives of people who had died in an inner city accident and emergency ( A&E) department; 68 (87%) agreed to participate in the study and were sent a questionnaire. Outcome measures were views on being asked about organ donation in the A&E department immediately after the death of a relative and knowledge of the possibility for organ donation in A&E a fter a sudden death. Results-37 questionnaires were returned: 27 (72.9 %) of those who responded would not have minded being asked, five woul d have minded, and five did not know or did not fill in the questionna ire; 29 were aware that organs could be donated following a death in A &E. Only six people had discussed organ donation before the bereavemen t. Only two of the people who died and seven of their relatives carrie d a donor card. Sixteen had heard about the NHS donor register. Conclu sions-Most those responding would not have minded being asked about or gan donation following a sudden death. More education is needed in two main areas: (1) to raise public awareness about the shortage of donor organs; (2) to improve the medical and nursing confidence in discussi ng these difficult issues sensitively but more openly and frequently.