The needs of family members of organ and tissue donors.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the needs of family members of organ and/or tissue donors during the events of organ donation.

DESIGN: Retrospective, exploratory, descriptive.

SETTING: Eastern Canada.

PARTICIPANTS: Seven families who had consented to organ and/or tissue donation in 1988 were interviewed in their homes, 10 to 15 months after the sudden and unexpected loss of their loved one. The sample represented nine individual family members whose relationship to the donors included three mothers, two fathers, one husband, two wives, and one sister. All families consented to organ and/or tissue donation within 1 hour to 3 weeks of the donors' admission to a critical care unit. The donors' ages ranged from 16 to 41 years.

RESULTS: The needs of these family members were identified from a secondary analysis of the interview transcripts from an original study on stress and coping. Their major needs included receiving information and support from health professionals, being able to visit frequently, and consenting to the organ or tissue donation. Family members identified nurses as being informative and genuinely supportive, clearly suggesting that they have the necessary therapeutic skills to approach families about donation.

CONCLUSION: The need for potential donor families experiencing a critical illness phase to receive information and emotional support and to visit frequently were consistent with literature findings on other families of critically ill patients. Equally important for donor families was their need to consent to organ and/or tissue donation, which clearly indicates that health professionals need to offer the option of donation.