Living donor psychosocial assesment/follow-up practices in the partners' countries of the ELIPSY project.

BACKGROUND: Living donor (LD) transplantation has increased recently, but psychosocial aspects of living donation have not been well characterized, as risk factors for the donors. ELIPSY is a project confunded by EAHC, seeking to develop a common methodology for all EU countries for LD assessment/follow-up in the psychosocial sphere (www.eulivingdonor.eu). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate current psychosocial LD assessment/follow-up practices among European centers for key aspects and differences between kidney and liver programs. METHODS: Within a timeline of 30 months, this phase of the project sought to identify current LD psychosocial assessment/follow-up practices. The final survey concerned two versions focused on the kidney and on liver transplant program. The survey took place in ELIPSY partner centers under their own responsibility. Each of the centers sent the survey to other ones performing LD in their country. Partners in the EULID project includes ones in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Romania. The results were analyzed separately for each program seeking to compare and define differences among them. RESULTS: The survey took place in 10 European countries including 65 centers with LD programs. Positive answers regarding psychosocial assessment/follow-up practices were obtained for 26 (42%) kidney and nine (38%) liver centers. Some centers perform several psychosocial follow-ups but did not explain their tools, whereas the centers that did explain the tools used the same ones for both programs.

The PIERDUB project: International Project on Education and Research in Donation at University of Barcelona: training university students about donation and transplantation.

INTRODUCTION: Donation and transplantation is an accepted therapeutic option when organ failure or tissue replacements are needed to save or improve the quality of life. However, in most medical schools there is no specific training for it, thus disregarding the key role of university students for the future success of the process. OBJECTIVES: Knowledge diffusion about the donation procedure to clarify doubts and stimulate positive attitudes toward donation. Training university students in the donation and transplantation process. Research about the previous donation knowledge and the impact in donation indexes. METHODS: Three different phases have been designed: (1) Training the University of Barcelona Health Sciences School students; (2) Training the Health Sciences School students in other faculties of Catalonia, Spain, and International; and (3) research. RESULTS: Since 2005, we have offered yearly an Optional Credits Course to medical students with duration of 45 hours, and two Donation days opened to health sciences students. Since 2007, promotional campaigns have been carried out in medicine and other health sciences faculties. Until now, 818 answered surveys have been collected to evaluate previous knowledge among university students. CONCLUSION: Training medical and other health sciences students in the donation process will improve quality of medical education and develop a trainer role for future professionals to help improve donation rates.