Providing Transplant Candidates with Guidance about Differences in Acceptance Criteria across Programs
1Department of Medicine, Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), University of Minnesota (UMN), Minneapolis, MN
2Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, UMN, Minneapolis, MN
3College of Design, UMN, Minneapolis, MN
4Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation, Minneapolis, MN
5Department of Surgery, UMN, Minneapolis, MN
6Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, UMN, Minneapolis, MN
7Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
8Division of Hepatology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Meeting: 2018 American Transplant Congress
Abstract number: B332
Keywords: Patient education
Session Information
Session Name: Poster Session B: Non-Organ Specific: Economics, Public Policy, Allocation, Ethics
Session Type: Poster Session
Date: Sunday, June 3, 2018
Session Time: 6:00pm-7:00pm
Presentation Time: 6:00pm-7:00pm
Location: Hall 4EF
The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) provides federally mandated program-specific reports (PSR) to the public. Candidate acceptance criteria vary widely across programs for many patient characteristics, including age and Body Mass Index (BMI). Characteristics of recent recipients at a program are included in public SRTR reports. Currently, there is little understanding of how patients learn about acceptance criteria at different centers. This study conducted kidney and liver focus groups for candidates and family members at one local center and national recipients from every Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) region. Each 90-minute discussion included open-ended feedback on multiple website mockups depicting a patient-specific search tool, with entry fields for individual characteristics and explanations about how each might impact choices.
The 21 total focus groups included 98 participants. Patients were willing to enter patient characteristics, had experienced difficulty determining acceptance criteria at different centers, and favored improved access to this information. 
CITATION INFORMATION: Schaffhausen C., Bruin M., Chu S., Matas A., Lake J., Kim W., Biggins S., Snyder J., Kasiske B., Israni A. Providing Transplant Candidates with Guidance about Differences in Acceptance Criteria across Programs Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Schaffhausen C, Bruin M, Chu S, Matas A, Lake J, Kim W, Biggins S, Snyder J, Kasiske B, Israni A. Providing Transplant Candidates with Guidance about Differences in Acceptance Criteria across Programs [abstract]. https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/providing-transplant-candidates-with-guidance-about-differences-in-acceptance-criteria-across-programs/. Accessed May 9, 2025.« Back to 2018 American Transplant Congress