Transplant Trial Watch

The Patients Save Lives Program to Facilitate Organ Donor Designation in Primary Care Offices.

Degenholtz, H. B., Creppage, K. et al. (2019).

Progress in Transplantation; [record in progress].


Aims
This study aimed to assess variation in training protocols in a primary care setting regarding organ donation and transplantation. The trial proposed to identify whether this intervention would facilitate donor designation.

Interventions
Primary care physician offices were randomly assigned to either web-based training, in-person training, or a control condition.

Participants
121 primary care clinics in the donor designation region of the collaborating Organ Procurement Organizations were included in this trial.

Outcomes
The primary was the percentage of people who were not already on the registry who chose to designate when provided with the opportunity to do so as part of a primary care office visit. This outcome was captured using the patients save lives (PSL) forms.

Follow-up
6 months

CET Conclusions
This RCT compared the effect of a web-based training, in-person training and a control condition about organ and tissue donation on donor registrations. Primary care clinics were randomised to one of the three conditions. All clinics received a poster promoting organ donation, brochures and donor designation forms. The web-based training and in-person training consisted of a 1-hour continuing education course. The primary outcome was the percentage of people who were not on the donor registry who chose to designate during a primary care office visit. 269 primary care practices were approached of which 108 agreed to participate and 21,189 patients were exposed to the interventions over 6-months. Baseline differences existed between groups in terms of education of clinic staff, number of patients, and age and race of patients. There were more patients already registered as a donor in the two training groups and after 6 months 8.6% and 7.1% of non-registered patients in the in-person and web-based training group, respectively, registered as donor. No patients in the control group registered as a donor. The authors list a number of valid limitations of the study and these should be addressed in future research.

Jadad score
3

Data analysis
Strict intention-to-treat analysis

Allocation concealment
No

Trial registration
NA

Funding source
Industry & non-industry funded