Hospital characteristics associated with increased conversion rates among organ donors in New England.

BACKGROUND

It is unknown whether hospital characteristics affect institutional performance with regard to organ donation. We sought to determine which hospital- and patient-level characteristics are associated with high organ donor conversion rates after brain death (DBD).

METHODS

Data were extracted from the regional Organ Procurement Organization (2011-2014) and other sources. Hospitals were stratified into high-conversion hospitals (HCH; upper-tertile) and low-conversion hospitals (LCH; lower-tertile) according to conversion rates. Hospital- and patient-characteristics were compared between groups.

RESULTS

There were 564 potential DBD donors in 27 hospitals. Conversion rates differed between hospitals in different states (p < 0.001). HCH were more likely to be small (median bed size 194 vs. 337; p = 0.024), non-teaching hospitals (40% vs. 88%; p = 0.025), non-trauma center (30% vs. 77%; p = 0.040). Potential donors differed between HCH and LCH in race (p < 0.01) and mechanism of injury/disease process (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

There is significant variation between hospitals in terms of organ donor conversion rates. This suggests that there is a pool of potential donors in large specialized hospitals that are not successfully converted to DBD.