how do you become an organ transplant tech.?

[johnnyDoGood]

was talking to the cousin last night and they want to go back to school at 50. says they are interested in being an organ transplant technician. how do you train for that? is there a school that offers that? i guess it's the person that helps on the transplanting team when a newly deceased person is having his organs removed while still in the ER.

[mommajoz]

Never heard of an organ transplant technician...

In my area the team consists of surgeons, surgical techs, and circulating nurses.

[surething1]

University of Toledo has a program for nurses that trains them to be an organ/tissue donation coordinator. I want to say its a masters level nursing course but Im not certain on that. I have been told it's the only program like this in the country.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

I've never heard of a organ transplant tech. The donor organ retrieval is generally coordinated by a RN Organ transplant coordinator who works with organ sharing networks. The retrieval teams are generally surgeons & surgical residents (from the receiving facility), not technicians, in addition to the facility regular OR team (anesthesia, surgeons, registered nurses, perhaps OR techs).

I've never heard of organs removed in the ER, always in the sterile operating suite.

[mommajoz]

LOL... I didn't even catch the "organs removed in ER" part! I hope I never get one of those... (just kidding OP)

I guess I should have more coffee before reading next time

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

Um...no such thing. First of all, organs are not retrieved in the ER. It is done in the OR. It is a very complicated succession of fast paced coordination by many members of the medical team in order to get a transplant into action. The transplant coordinator is an RN who has experience and also holds a Master's degree. There is a mind boggling amount of work that must ensue in order to make a transplant work-from blood and tissue typing to gathering the docs and nurses to actually do organ retrieval while finding a suitable recipient.

Where on earth did you get the idea that retrieval was done in the ER?

[JDPBSN]

hey there, great question. i worked in tissue/ organ procurement for a number of years. some clarity: physicians remove the organs; some specialize in this area and fly to various hospitals to do this. as for being a nurse, some act as coordinators’ and place, manage patient care, follow-up and refer when needed.

yes, you can harvest/ recover tissue. this requires training in surgery technique/ armamentarium, anatomy, hematology, infectious disease and forensic documentation/ analysis. the procurists are the ones who remove corneas and globes, skin, bone, fascia, vessels, lymph, neural tissue and anything requested for research. often times this is done in an or setting, but i have removed plenty of tissue in the er, units, nursing homes, morgues, and even a funeral home from time-to-time. in some cases, when time is critical- the procrurists and surgeons work simultaneously.

the education preparation varies. some are or techs with a biological science degree, pa's, np's, rn’s, and a large amount are students (i did this while in nursing school). but, often there is no formal education- ojt and certification depending on region. i think it is also important to state, that this is not done by hospital staff, this is done by out-side procument agancies.

hope that helps. good luck!

[coast2coast]

the procurists are the ones who remove corneas and globes, skin, bone, fascia, vessels, lymph, neural tissue and anything requested for research. often times this is done in an or setting, but i have removed plenty of tissue in the er, units, nursing homes, morgues, and even a funeral home from time-to-time. in some cases, when time is critical- the procrurists and surgeons work simultaneously.

the education preparation varies. some are or techs with a biological science degree, pa's, np's, rn's, and a large amount are students (i did this while in nursing school). but, often there is no formal education- ojt and certification depending on region. i think it is also important to state, that this is not done by hospital staff, this is done by out-side procument agancies.

hope that helps. good luck!

jdpbsn, now you've spiked my curiosity. you're saying the "procurists" are going in for tissue(s) for research, separately from anything being removed for transplantation? or they are working on both research and transplantation organs/tissues/etc?

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

JDPBSN-I have never in my years of nursing seen actual harvesting go on in an ER. It is hard enough for the transplant team to secure an OR room to do the hours upon hours of work required to harvest multiple organs. I would think that an ER has even tighter constraints on their bed space.

It sounds like you have an interesting job. Do you have a degree in nursing?

[JDPBSN]

canesdukegirl- thanks for your interest! yes, i am a nurse- but, my focus prior to nursing school was in anatomy. although, i can't speak for where you are from, and procurement practices- if i have limited time (i.e. rolling up on that 12 hour window), i will close the curtain, set up my sterile field's and remove corneas, whole globes or facial dermis (bone, vessels ect require an or) in the ed.

there is a lot of paperwork, documentation, investigating and examination that goes on before a scalpel even enters a hand. sometimes it can take hours, just to go through a chart to look for contraindications to procurement- so time is critical.

i think what you are inferring is whole organ donation (heart, renal, liver...). yes, this would never be done in any other settings than an or. but tissue... i've harvested in some pretty random spots of a hospital.

research is huge. say i get paged to go and remove bone, fascia and some major vessels- some of the vessels may be too shot to transplant to a human, so we remove them for research and teaching purposes. some families will opt just for donating only, some will say- if you can't use the tissue for humans, use it for research. whether for research or donation, it is all removed the same way- with the same standard of care (just paid a different fee).

hope that helps!

[OutlawNurse86, BSN, RN]

I've heard of organ "transport". A flight nurse once told me it was a good way to get accustomed to the helicopter.

I think most of the organ transporters are scrub nurses.

[OttawaRPN]

A friend of mine is a cornea retrieval nurse - she travels wherever and whenever and harvests those corneas pretty much any location the body happens to be.