Community education proposal for organ and tissue donation awareness in Quincy

Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness

Community Education Proposal

Organ and tissue transplantation is a therapy that is increasingly utilized in the medical health care field and is a therapy that has caused the supply and demand for organs and tissues "...to be disproportionate and the equitable distribution of this scarce resource remains an ethical issue." (NYSNA, 2008) Presently there are in excess of 86,000 individuals on the national transplantation waiting list..." which is a very long wait with many years being the general wait time for a suitable organ. A report issued by the New York State Nurses Association attributes the short supply of suitable organs and issues that public education and awareness must necessarily address are: (1) the knowledge and attitudes of health professionals; (2) processes for identification of donors; (3) timing of organ donation request; (4) family members refusal to consent to organ donation; and (5) considerations of a cultural nature that impact the willingness of individuals to donate organs. (Molzahn, Starzomski & McCormick, 2003; as cited in NYSNA, 2008)

STATEMENT of PROBLEM

There is a need to make individuals in Quincy, Massachusetts aware of the options of tissue and organ donation. The professional nursing community should "...assume an integral and valuable role in overcoming the shortage of suitable, viable organs and tissue for transplantation." (NYSNA, 2008)

PURPOSE of STUDY

The purpose of the research proposed is to provide information awareness to the community in Quincy, Massachusetts via the nursing professional and to measure the effectiveness of the outcome of learning for community members.

DATA COLLECTION & ANALYSIS

The proposed study is one will qualitatively conduct a literature review of both an extensive and thorough nature in regards to methodology and research design specifically as related to the provision of community information awareness. Secondly, this study will determine the most effective method for assessing the outcome of learning for individuals in the Quincy, Massachusetts community through identification of the same in the review of literature, which will be a synthesis of previous research in this area of study. Finally, resulting from this study will be a research design for implementation of an organ and tissue donation community initiative in Quincy, Massachusetts. The proposed study will be of both a qualitative and quantitative nature. The preliminary phase of this proposed study will be in the form of a literature review to be qualitative in nature. The second phase of the study will begin upon the study identifying: (1) effective community instruction methods; and (2) accurate assessment of instruction, the study will be one of a quantitative nature in that information awareness will be provide by the nursing professional, community members will be assessed as to the outcome of learning or effectiveness of instruction in the area of organ and tissue donation awareness in Quincy, Massachusetts.