Purpose: Although the number of living organ donors is small, their altruistic sacrifice requires a dedicated approach to meet their unique needs. Living donors (LD) are otherwise healthy individuals who have typically never been hospitalized. At this academic tertiary medical center, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores do not give valuable feedback specific to living donor inpatient experience. However, patients often verbalized unrealistic expectations of postoperative recovery and pain management during inpatient hospitalization. Limited literature exists on LD specific preoperative education, but general surgery literature shows improved postoperative patient experience and perceived pain management when preoperative education is provided. The purpose of this project was to improve overall LD patient satisfaction with the inpatient experience by providing more comprehensive preoperative education focused on realistic expectations for pain management and inpatient hospitalization.

Methods: Transplant leadership and clinical staff partnered to understand the existing preoperative education process and identify gaps in patient knowledge and education related to inpatient stay. A LD focused education program was developed to meet identified gaps including explanations of postoperative monitoring and devices, pain management, inter-professional interventions and preventing complications. Inpatient nurses provide 1:1 education with the donor patient/family at their preoperative clinic visit with emphasis on setting expectations for pain management and hospital course progression. At discharge, LD's were asked to complete a survey to give feedback about their preoperative education and hospital experience.

Results: A survey using a Likert Scale measured patients' perception of preparedness, pain experience and overall effectiveness of preoperative education from 1-5 with 5 being most prepared. Results indicate that patients felt prepared for hospitalization as evidenced by a 4-5/5 rating on the following: preparedness for hospital stay (94%), inpatient pain management (84%) and overall effectiveness of education (97%), N=38. Patient feedback also verified perceived positive inpatient experience.

Conclusion: Focused preoperative LD education improved overall inpatient experience. Preoperative education is now a standard of practice for all LD's with the goal to expand this education to all living donor recipients.

CITATION INFORMATION: Ventura K., Sigafus K. Preoperative Patient Education to Improve the Inpatient Experience for Living Donors Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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