Role of Nursing In Renal Transplant Surgery Order Instructions: Module 6 Initial Discussion Post: Base your initial post on the paragraph below, your readings and research on this topic.
Renal transplant surgery is the oldest and most successful type of organ transplant yet the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) reports there is the insufficient number of available organs to meet the growing needs of individuals who require this surgical procedure. The source of a kidney for transplantation may be from a living or deceased donor.
After reflecting on the above paragraph, discuss the following points (minimum of 250 words):
What is the professional nurse’s role in organ donation?
Are there ethical considerations associated with living donors? Explain.
Should donors or their families be financially compensated for their donation? Why or why not?
Role of Nursing In Renal Transplant Surgery Sample Answer
Renal Transplant Surgery
Role of Nursing In Renal Transplant Surgery
Patients that have undergone kidney transplants require long-term support than most relatives, friends or healthcare providers may realize. The patients need more social support after the procedure alongside interventions to aid in alleviating problematic medical side effects and how they can be managed. Nurses play a key role in kidney transplant. According to Kim (2013), a professional nurse aids the patient in tackling the challenges linked to kidney transplant by providing psychological, physical as well as educational support to the patient, donor, and family members before the procedure. Nurses also use their awareness of transplant positioning in the operating room to provide postoperative care. Additionally, a professional nurse also helps in monitoring and maintaining fluid volume, hemodynamic status, and the patient’s blood pressure at a physiological range.
Role of Nursing In Renal Transplant Surgery and Ethical Consideration
Several ethical considerations have been linked to kidney donation. For instance, worries arise among donors about the intense pressure that is weighed on them resulting to donors who may be reluctant to donate feel coerced. As a result, healthcare providers are compelled to find a plausible medical excuse so that the donor can gracefully bow out. Veatch & Ross (2014) report that donors may feel obligated to donate regardless of the consequences to themselves. Take the case of a parent who opts to donate both lobes of her kidney in a bid to save her child without realizing that she is making a life-threatening sacrifice. Clinicians should conduct thorough scrutiny to identify the motive of some donors (Kjellstran & Dossetor, 2013). For example, cases have been reported whereby an individual donates his/her kidney due to low self-esteem or depression, media attention, or have the intention of harboring the life of the recipient.
Compensation for Family member’s of Organ Donors
Indeed, kidney donors should be compensated. This is because the donors have to absorb and pay the cost of a month spent recovering from the surgical procedure. The donors end up missing work and childcare. They also risk losing their jobs during their recovery period. Donor compensation is the right thing to do. It is unfortunate that the surgeon gets paid, so is the nephrologists, the hospital, insurer, and the patient also gets a new kidney. Why would everyone be paid except the donor?
Role of Nursing In Renal Transplant Surgery References
Kim, S. (2013). Compassion fatigue in liver and kidney transplant nurse coordinators: a descriptive research study. Progress in Transplantation,23(4), 329-335.
Kjellstrand, C., & Dossetor, J. B. (Eds.). (2013). Ethical problems in dialysis and transplantation (Vol. 33). Springer Science & Business Media.
Veatch, R. M., & Ross, L. F. (2014). Transplantation ethics. Georgetown University Press.
