Patient and Physician Intervention to Increase Organ Donation (DECIDE)

The number of persons on the national solid organ waiting list continues to increase while the number of donated organs has failed to keep pace. In some portions of northeastern Ohio the donation rate is as low as 32%. There is a positive association between discussing organ donation with a primary care physician and signing a donor card. However, such discussions are rare. We propose a blinded randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions: 1) showing a donation video to patients in primary care settings waiting to see their physician and 2) cueing of primary care physicians to have donation discussions with their patients. The study will be conducted throughout Cuyahoga County in at least 10 ambulatory clinics associated with a single county medical system. Nine hundred patients over 15.5 years of age will be enrolled. We hypothesize that patients exposed to the interventions will be 1) more likely to consent to donate organs, 2) more likely to have donation discussions with their primary care physicians, and 3) equally satisfied with the time spent with their doctor compared to patients who are not exposed to the interventions.