Training and social awareness targeted for allied health professionals for increasing organ donation in the European Union and neighboring countries: EUDONORGAN
Estephan Arredondo1, Melania Istrate1, Chloë Ballesté1,2, Ricard Valero1,2, Patricia Peralta2, Aneta Toncheva2, Martí Manyalich1,2.
1Donation and Transplantation Institute (DTI Foundation), Barcelona, Spain; 2University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Introduction: EUDONORGAN is a service contract awarded by European Commission on initiative of the European Parliament aiming to provide training and increase social awareness in the European Union (EU) and neighboring countries to enhance positive attitude towards organ and tissue donation, ultimately help improving donation rates.
Methods: Spain as leader, Croatia, Italy & Slovenia joined the project and took responsibilities in work packages: a) WP1-Training b) WP2- Social Awareness; c) WP3- Dissemination and d) WP4- Evaluation. Selection criteria for training beneficiaries (healthcare professionals and other key players) were provided to Competent Authorities of Member States (MS) and patient associations to propose candidates. In WP1, the training program employed a blended methodology. The beneficiaries included healthcare professionals (HPs) and other key players (OKPs) from the EU and NCs. The e-learning offered one route for HPs and another for OKPs, each one of them involved eight short videos explaining tissue and cell donation. The face to face was practical and promoted best practice exchange. A survey on attitude towards donation was carried out among participants before and after. In WP2, donation data was collected from EU and NCs for the organisation of six tailored awareness events in 2018-2019.
Results: In WP1, 101 participants from 28 countries completed the training: 79 HPs and 22 OKPs. The e-learning was evaluated with 4,45 (from 1-poor to 5-excellent), registering 25,22% of knowledge improvement among healthcare professionals and 29,47% among other key players. The face-to-face session was evaluated with 4,44 (from 1 to 5). 96 participants attended all sessions and were certified. In WP2, 6 Member States to organized awareness raising events in Warsaw, Budapest, Brussel, Stockholm, Lisbon, and Athens. The events involved more than 500 participants from different countries. Nowadays, project materials are being translated to Chinese, Greece and other languages to continue with the dissemination of the project.
Conclusion: EUDONORGAN is an innovative cross-sectorial project that aims at improving donation across the European Union and neighbouring countries.
