ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the state of affairs in Dutch nursing homes with regard to the Organ Donation Act, two years after its introduction. DESIGN: Descriptive, questionnaire study. METHOD: By means of a structured questionnaire the availability, implementation and use of the protocol on tissue donation as well as difficulties in the use of this protocol were enquired about in April 2000 in all 253 Dutch combined and categorical somatic nursing homes. The attitude of nursing home physicians to tissue donation in nursing homes was also assessed. The questionnaire was sent to heads of the Medical Departments, who supplied the answers in cooperation with the nursing home physicians. Finally, partly based on registration data from the Donor Register and from Bio Implant Services, an inventory was made of the number of occasions the national Donor Register was consulted and of the number of tissue donations from nursing homes. RESULTS: In total, 186 questionnaires were returned (response: 73.5%). A protocol on tissue donation had been introduced by 136 (73%) of the Dutch nursing homes, and 96 (52%) of the nursing homes actually used such a protocol. Since the introduction of the Organ Donation Act, the number of tissue donations from nursing homes has not increased: 1-2 skin and 15-20 cornea donors per year. The nursing home physicians were of the opinion that compliance with the protocol required a considerable amount of time, work and emotions, yet due to the large number of contraindications for donation, these efforts were scarcely rewarded.
