University of Virginia Health System

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UVa HEALTH SYSTEM RECOGNIZED FOR ORGAN DONATION EFFORTS

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., --  The staff at the University of Virginia Health System- including doctors, nurses and administrators-  is being honored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for increasing organ donation rates. UVa is one of 319 hospitals in the nation qualifying for the Organ Donation Medal of Honor, given this October by HHS officials. About 600 hospitals are eligible.

UVa is being recognized because, during the last few years, the medical center has met or exceeded a 75 percent conversion rate for organ donation - that is the number of medically suitable deceased patients who go on to donate organs. The conversion rate is affected by whether or not the patient's family consents to donation and the medical management to preserve organs until donation takes place. UVa has improved its consent process by becoming more sensitive to cultural issues and by training staff about consent.

The 75 percent rate is a national goal set by the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative to save thousands of lives by increasing organ donation in the U.S.  About 92,000 people today are waiting for an organ transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), including over 2,500 people in Virginia. At UVa, about eighteen to twenty families a year agree to donate a loved one's organs to save the life of a person on the national waiting list.

"If we fail to recognize the potential good that can come from a tragic situation, and to have the systems in place to bring about that good, then that has a very real impact on someone who is waiting for an organ," said Deb Baker, RN, MSN, director of the neuro intensive care unit at UVa, who served as team leader on the Organ Donation Collaborative.   

 "This honor speaks well for the entire team at UVa," said Roger Young, senior donation consultant with LifeNet, the federally designated agency that coordinates organ recoveries at UVa and in most of Virginia. "It highlights the excellent care UVa provides to families in their time of grief at losing a loved one."

About 2 million Virginians have signed up to be organ donors. If you'd like to help save lives by becoming a donor as well, just go to the website http://www.save7lives.org/ and learn more about organ donation.

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