Background: Following the guiding principles of World Health Organization (WHO) on organ transplantation and in accordance with cultural traditions and current socioeconomic conditions of the country, China has established a scientific and ethical system to foster sound development of organ donation(OD) and transplantation(OT). A rapid raising trend in the annual number of OD after citizen’s death in China; from 34 cases, 0.03 OD per million population (PMP) in 2010 to 4080 cases ,3 PMP, in 2016; more than 10% of total deceased OD worldwide, shows a promising outcome. However, only 1 out of 43 patients can receive kidney transplant in a year. The gap between demand for OT and supply is growing continuously. Meanwhile, only 0.062% of hospital deaths converted to actual organ donors in 2016, indicating a low identification rate of potential donors. To tackle this issue, a joint international approach to train over 1200 Chinese organ procurement professionals in 5 years had been proposed and put into action since December 2014.
Methods: Adopting TPM methodology, continuous professional trainings were done at national and regional level. Working in conjunction national authorities and local hospitals, a common curriculum was designed. The courses were led by international and local experts who were well-trained overseas. Participants received a 3 to 5-days course composed of theoretical seminars, case studies section and simulation workshops for each step of the OD practices. Interpretation was provided by professional translators with medical background during the course. The knowledge level of participants was evaluated by a final test. To those who successfully passed the evaluation, a recognized certificate was given. In the last two courses, individual self-evaluation tests measuring the level of knowledge acquired were performed before and after the course. These trainings were validated both by European Credit Transfer System and Health care continuous education program of the region organizing the course.
Result: 610 health professionals (HP)from 30 provinces in China are trained over the last 3 years. 19% of the participants are HP from 88 OPO, 37% are surgeons from 72 Transplant centers, and 39% are physicians from critical /emergency units from 95 donor hospitals. An increasing trend through the years in number of OD were observed in all cities the trainings took place. The organ utilization rate is higher in provinces where the course was repeated. Comparison results performed before-after the course shows greater knowledge, as reflected in the test correct rate increasing from 71.48% to 82.84%.
Discussion: The sufficiency of skill and knowledge acquired by HP is of essential to boost up the progress of an efficient and healthy OD in China. Therefore; as estimated, in 2019, the number of well-trained HP in this program will be 1200. Of those, if consider, each one performing 6 cases yearly, more than 7200 donations will be performed annually.