Abstract
A single organ donor can save up to 7 lives and many patients can have lifesaving transplants. In South Africa, there is no balance between the demand and supply of organs. This results in a shortage of organs and is an on-going issue. This gap identifies a concern: “that there is a high demand for people on a waiting list for organ transplantation and a small amount of potential organ donors” It has risen the question: “What are the experiences of the professional nurses when caring for potential organ donors. Therefore, it is important to understand the experiences of professional nurses whilst caring for potential organ donors so that when faced with caring for a potential organ donor and their families, it cannot influence the opportunity for transplantation. The purpose of this study was to gain understanding of the experiences of the professional nurses providing care to potential organ donors and to make recommendations to facilitate the quality of caring of potential organ donors by professional nurses.
A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, and contextual researched design was used. The population included trained and experienced critical care professional nurses who worked in two (2) intensive care units at a public institution in Gauteng. Purposive sampling was used, and seven (7) participants were interviewed until data saturation was reached.
Three (3) themes emerged from the in-depth individual semi-structured interviews:
1: The participants experienced mixed emotions while caring for a potential organ donor.
2: The participants experienced that caring for a potential organ donor was mechanical and involved caring for the family members as well.
3: The participants experienced barriers in caring for the potential organ donors.
Recommendations for nursing practice, nursing management and further research have been made. Trustworthiness of the data was ensured by ensuring credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability of the findings. The study was conducted
2
with due consideration of the ethical principles. Limitations and strengths were identified, and recommendations can be applied by nursing practice and future researchers.
Keywords: caring, organ donation, potential organ donors, professional nurses, transplantation.