Transplant Coordinator

Nurses Career Support

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Good Morning! I recently started looking into other nursing options outside of bedside nursing. I'm and RN with almost 4 years of experience, mostly in an ICU type step down unit. Recently I have been interested in end of life care and organ donation. I'm interested in applying for a transplant coordinator position in my area and was wondering if anyone had any feedback for me to make this decision. The position would be as the coordinator to educate families on brain death and possible donation of their loved ones organs. Any positive or negative feedback would be greatly appreciated!

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Specializes in APRN Transplant.

Hi, I was recently hired as a Transplant Coordinator. I have no previous experience in transplant. Just checking to see what your experience has been thus far. There's not much ( on this site) in terms of recent information regarding this field. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

What type of training & ongoing support will be provided for you? At first glance, these positions seem deceptively "cushy". But the continuing focus on end of life can be very draining, particularly if it entails a large proportion of trauma victims. This is a sure pathway to moral distress & high potential for development of "cumulative trauma syndrome disorder" (clinician version of PTSD). OTOH, transplant coordinators can be of enormous value to donor families - making all the difference in their ability to live with the decisions that they have had to make.

Best of luck with this very important career decision.

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Specializes in APRN Transplant.

Thanks for the feedback. As a pre- transplant coordinator I was told that I would not partake in the procurement of organs, but rather identify candidates for transplants. Coordinating with PCP and etc... To get all testing results, cases are then presented to transplant team for consideration. There is a lot of patient and family teaching., explaining the legalities as it pertains to transplants, as well as discharge planning and discharge education. I was told that it would take 6 months to a year of training before I am to "fly solo". I also have to receive my CCTC certification within 2 years of hire. Any additional advice as to what to expect would be much appreciated .

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