Prototype of a computerized scale for the active search for potential organ donors

OBJECTIVE: to develop a prototype of a computerized scale for the active search for potential organ and tissue donors. METHOD: methodological study, with the analysis of 377 electronic medical records of patients who died due to encephalic death or cardiorespiratory arrest in the intensive care units of a tertiary hospital. Among the deaths due to cardiorespiratory arrest, the study aimed to identify factors indicating underreported encephalic death cases. The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II and Sepsis Related Organ Failure Assessment severity indexes were applied in the protocols. Based on this, a scale was built and sent to five experts for assessment of the scale content, and subsequently, it was computerized by using a prototyping model. RESULTS: 34 underreported encephalic death cases were identified in the medical records of patients with cardiorespiratory arrest. Statistically significant differences were found in the Wilcoxon test between the scores of hospital admissions in the intensive care unit and the opening of the encephalic death protocol for both severity indexes. CONCLUSION: the prototype was effective for identifying potential organ donors, as well as for the identification of the degree of organ dysfunction in patients with encephalic death.