How to increase organ procurement in brain-dead donors, Cristal action: a new tool for hospitals in France

Abstract

To improve organ transplantation in France, the first step is to maximize organ donation from deceased donors. The profile of donors is changing: donors are older with extended criteria from the emergency departments and the intensive care units. Cristal action is a method based on European recommendations, proposed by the French organ procurement organization “Agence de la biomedicine”, to continuously analyse the possibilities of organ procurement in each hospital. The hospital coordinator performs a simple analysis of the major stages of organ procurement processes of deceased patients. Feedback is given to the emergency and intensive care teams to improve their working practice and training. The objective of this method is to create or strengthen the links between emergency physicians, intensivists, and the transplant coordinator. This method also offers the possibility to carry out investigations on scientific purposes, practical attitudes, and routine practices regarding all the involved teams. Cristal action aims to improve quality assurance and evaluate the professional practices. In the future, a better analysis of organ procurement activity will be possible by sharing information on the possibilities of organ donation as well as on the different determinants of the health care system.