Transplant Coordinator Time Saved (TCTS) Through a Hybrid On Call Team for Deceased Donor Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Organ Offers
Division of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, UC Irvine, Orange, CA
Meeting: 2022 American Transplant Congress
Abstract number: 743
Keywords: Cadaveric organs, Kidney transplantation, Kidney/pancreas transplantation, Outcome
Topic: Clinical Science » Kidney » 32 - Kidney Deceased Donor Selection
Session Information
Session Name: Kidney Deceased Donor Selection
Session Type: Poster Abstract
Date: Saturday, June 4, 2022
Session Time: 5:30pm-7:00pm
Presentation Time: 5:30pm-7:00pm
Location: Hynes Halls C & D
*Purpose: The purpose of this analysis was to estimate transplant coordinator time saved (TCTS) through the implementation of a hybrid on call team. Historically, transplant coordinators (TCs) at our center managed all on call duties, including deceased donor organ offers, after-hours patient calls, patient admissions, etc., which had become increasingly time consuming. However, due to the volume of our center, we were unable to support a dedicated in-center on call team. As a result, a hybrid on call team was implemented for the management of deceased donor kidney and pancreas transplant organ offers. The goal of this model was to save TC time by alleviating certain offer duties from our TCs (ex: declining initial offers, losing work hours/sleep on offers our center was not highly ranked on, offers early in the procurement process, etc.) so that our TCs could direct more of their time to their primary roles.
*Methods: A hybrid on call team was developed and implemented between an external on call specialty team and our internal TCs. In this model, the external specialty team managed all organ offers until designated thresholds were met (i.e. ranked within top 3 recipients on an offer, importing blood for crossmatching, contacting patients, accepting organ(s) for transplant, admitting patient for transplant), at which point cases were handed off to an internal TC for further management. In order to determine the estimated TCTS by this hybrid model, we analyzed our center’s number of offers per month from October 2017 to October 2021. For the purpose of this analysis, we assumed each offer managed by the external specialty team was the equivalent of 30 minutes of TCTS from tasks such as reviewing organ offers, collaborating with physicians, entering refusal/provisional acceptance codes, communications with organ procurement organizations, and handoff communications.
*Results: TCTS ranged from 41 to 101.5 hours per month (hpm). The average TCTS for the study period was 49.2 hpm in 2017, 55.2 hpm in 2018, 64.0 hpm in 2019, 67.4 hpm in 2020, and 83.7 hpm in 2021. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipient (SRTR) observed post-transplant outcomes for our center for the 1/1/2018-6/30/2020 reporting periods were “as expected” and we received a 4/5 on the 5-tier outcome assessment.
*Conclusions: The hybrid on call team saved a significant amount of TC time during a period of tremendous growth for our center. The model did not adversely affect our transplant center’s outcomes.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Ko K, Gregory C, Le J, Lutrick A, Reddy U. Transplant Coordinator Time Saved (TCTS) Through a Hybrid On Call Team for Deceased Donor Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Organ Offers [abstract]. Am J Transplant. 2022; 22 (suppl 3). https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/transplant-coordinator-time-saved-tcts-through-a-hybrid-on-call-team-for-deceased-donor-kidney-and-pancreas-transplant-organ-offers/. Accessed November 23, 2024.« Back to 2022 American Transplant Congress