Attitudes and acceptability of organ and tissue donation registration in the emergency department: a national survey of emergency physicians

PURPOSE: There is a worldwide shortage of organs for transplantation. One method to increase the number of organs available for transplant is to increase the number of registered organ donors. The emergency department (ED) may be a suitable venue to disseminate knowledge to patients about organ donation, and to offer an immediate or future opportunity to register as an organ donor. This study aimed to assess emergency physicians’ attitudes and acceptability of an ED-based organ donation registration initiative. METHODS: We developed and distributed a national postal survey using a modified Dillman’s tailored design technique to a random sample of emergency physicians selected from the Canadian Medical Directory. RESULTS: From a total of 474 delivered surveys, we received 228 responses (48.1%). 98.5% of emergency physicians support the concept of deceased organ donation. 85.1% felt that the emergency department is an appropriate setting to disseminate information regarding organ donation and 77.6% felt that it is an appropriate location to offer an immediate opportunity to register as an organ donor. 74.1% of physicians who responded report to be personally registered as an organ donor. CONCLUSION: Most emergency physicians are supportive of organ donation promotion in the ED, including offering an immediate opportunity to register. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43678-022-00262-8.