Hospital Highlight

Yale New Haven Hospital

In cooperation with NEDS, Yale New Haven Hospital instituted an electronic process of automated donor referrals that coordinates and communicates directly with New England Donor Services’ computerized donor management system. The program, first piloted at YNHH, was designed to streamline the process for transferring patient information directly to NEDS and has since become a national model for electronic donor referral..

A recent Becker’s Hospital Review article on the topic said, “Using a new EHR tool, the system sent 5,418 electronic organ donor referrals to New England Donor Services in 2020, saving 470 hours of nurses’ time. The standard organ donation process begins when a caretaker of a patient who has died or is near death calls their regional organ procurement organization to conduct a screening to determine whether the patient can be a donor. The call takes 15 minutes on average.”

Using the new electronic referral tool, once hospital staff has identified a potential donor and is ready to make the referral, they are prompted to answer questions in the program. Examples of generated questions include Date of Referral and Reason for Referral.

When the NEDS’ system receives the completed referral, the program creates an affiliated referral number that is shared with the referring hospital. This referral number simplifies communication between NEDS and the hospital about the case.

The pilot was scheduled to distribute the referral tool over several years. However, after a significant decrease in processing time for NEDS and Yale New Haven staff, the team decided to completely release the tool across Yale New Haven Health system.

The referral form was released in 2020 and has been a very valuable addition to NEDS’ referral process.

Workplace Partnership for Life Campaign

The Workplace Partnership for Life (WPFL) is a national initiative that unites the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the organ donation community with workplaces throughout the nation to spread the word about the importance of donation. Partners include local, regional, and national companies, associations, unions, and academic, volunteer, philanthropic, and community-focused organizations of all kinds.
In the New England area, these partners can be found within our Transplant Centers and community hospitals, large and small. As a way to highlight our top-performers through this Campaign, we would like to highlight the following Platinum Award-Winning Hospital Partners:

Cottage Hospital (Woodsville, NH)
“We take great pride in receiving this award as it shows how passionate we are in educating our staff, our community and other stakeholders about the gift of life. We hold education sessions on a monthly basis for our hospital and clinic staff, quarterly education sessions with all clinical staff and request the presence of our NEDS Coordinator to assist with education twice a year. We host guest speakers at some of our events held during the year, for example, our representative lined up a local donor family members to speak during our flag raising and Blue green day celebration (pictured here). We set up at our local fairground during the fair to assist with education and registrations when asked. We hold open houses at our hospital and clinics and host a table with information. This year we even included the donor flag on our Fourth of July float. We take great pleasure in being a participant in the WPFL.” ~Kelly Hussey

Hartford Hospital (Hartford, CT)
Hartford Hospital, New England Donor Services, the American Liver Foundation and Donate Life CT all came together to provide education to Hartford Hospital employees on Organ and Tissue Donation last month. Over 130 Hospital employees participated in a Passport Program to learn more about end stage organ disease and transplant, brain death, NEDS referral cues, the FSC role and donation discussion, myths in the community and living donation while having the opportunity to engage with Donor Families and Recipients. NEDS registered 7 Hospital staff members during the event. Dr. Patricia Sheiner, Director of Hartford Hospital’s Transplant Program stated “by collaborating with our partners, we are able to accomplish so much more and provide valuable education to our staff that we hope will lead to increased organ donation rates.” This program is just one example of the many activities that have contributed to Hartford Hospital achieving Platinum Recognition from HRSA’s WPFL.

UMass Memorial Medical Center, University Campus (Worcester, MA)
“Organ and tissue donation awareness and performance are an integral part of my role as the ODAC Co Chair and Nurse Manager of 2LSICU, the highest donor potential unit at University Campus. We always want to expand upon our shared donation successes with our NEDS colleagues, and the WPFL campaign has planning strategies that help keep us motivated and goal-oriented. We recently had two very successful and well attended programs at University that we co planned and delivered with NEDS—Donor Sabbath Celebration of Life and a Nursing CEU program. Getting the platinum level of recognition is important to all of us here who really put our heart into this work which is both challenging and rewarding. We get to see things from a full circle experience in the amazing impact of our work—not only for our ICU patients and their families, but as a transplant center, with our recipients and their families.” ~Karen Shea

Down East Community Hospital (Machias, ME)
“Receiving the platinum award for the WPFL campaign represents the achievement of great work by great people, for such an important cause. The recognition encompasses teamwork, community, and pride.” ~Donna Renshaw, Hospital Liaison & Donor Wife

Down East staff heavily utilize the resources available to them on www.organdonor.gov, in order to educate their hospital staff and community. They attribute their success to fully utilizing these resources, and making a continuous effort to promote the gift of life.

Thank you to all our hospital partners for participating in this Campaign!

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