Quality Improvement Tools to Manage Deceased Organ Donation Processes: A Scoping Review
Deceased organ donation is a highly complex and multi-phased process, which makes it prone to adverse events and errors. Appropriate quality improvement tools should be used to ensure proper flow and safety throughout the donation process. We conducted a scoping review to map the existing evidence on the use of quality improvement tools to manage deceased organ donation process. A total of 40 references were included and the tools identified included checklists, algorithms, flowcharts, charts, pathways, decision tree maps and mobile apps. These tools were applied in the following phases of the organ donation process: (1) potential donor identification; (2) donor referral; (3) death determination; (4) potential donor assessment; (5) donor management; (6) donor risk assessment; (7) withdrawal of life sustaining measures; (8) organ retrieval; and (9) overall organ donation process. By mapping existing tools, we aim to facilitate both clinician choices among available tools, as well as research work building on existing knowledge.