Using Online Communication Skills Training to Increase Organ Donation Authorization

Introduction: Family denial of organ donation from deceased donor-eligible patients is a major contributor to the deficit of transplantable organs in the United States. Research Question: Does an evidence-based communication intervention improve deceased organ donor authorization rates from family decision-makers? Design: This implementation and dissemination study used Communicating Effectively about Donation on Organ Procurement Organization professionals responsible for discussing donation and obtaining authorization from family decision-makers. A 14-month, nationwide social marketing campaign generated a sample of 682 requesters, yielding a final analyzable sample of 253 participants. Serving as their own controls, participants spent the first 3 months in a preintervention period, completed the web-based intervention, and progressed to a 3-month postintervention period. Participants completed brief online weekly surveys to assess the intervention’s impact on their communication skills. Results: Authorization rates did not improve overall between the pre- and postintervention periods. A differential effect of the intervention on 3 distinct groups of requesters was found: one group exhibited high and stable authorization rates pre–post (78%-74%); a second group had low initial authorization rates that increased after exposure to the intervention (46%-73%); the third had low and variable rates of authorization that failed to improve after the intervention (45%-36%). Conclusion: This study underscores the value of evidence-based communication training. Training targeted to requesters’ skill levels is needed to realize overall improvements in individual performance, the quality of donation discussions, and rates of family decision-maker authorization to solid organ donation.