Assessment of donors' training needs in transplantation practices

Objective: The purpose of this study to assess of the information requirements for sustaining self-care of individuals (donors) who undergo surgical intervention for organ donation and the determination of factors related to own characteristics. Materials and Method: This descriptive study was conducted in a private hospital in Istanbul. The sample of the study consisted of 73 individuals (donors) who underwent surgical intervention for organ donation and were planned to be discharged after organ donation hospital between May 01 and November 01, 2017. The "Donor Information Form" and the "Form for Determining Post-transplant Training Needs of Individuals who Donated Their Organs (Donors)", which were drawn up by using information in the literature, were used to collect study data. This form consists of two sub-dimensions: health perception/health management and daily living activities. The data were evaluated using the SPSS 21.0 software package. Findings: Mean age of the donors participated in the study was 38.86±10.784. The majority of organ donors (53.4%) were kidney donors, and 31.5% donated their organs to their fathers. Mean score obtained from the "Form for Determining Post-transplant Training Needs of Donors" was 137.81 ± 25.957. In the form, the highest score was obtained for the item "I know the harmful habits affecting my health" (4.59±0.910) and the lowest score was obtained for the item "I feel calm and peaceful" (2.41±1.267). The difference between donors' information need scores and donors' gender, age, and marital status was not statistically significant (p>0.05), whereas a statistically significant difference was established between educational status, work status and being satisfied with discharge training (p<0.05) . Conclusion: It was determined that the donors' information needs were at moderate level. We can say that nurses should take a more active role in donor discharge training.