ETPOD – European training program on organ donation. The european commission project

Background: Last year (2008) in Poland 1175 organs were retrieved from 427 donors and 1127 of them were transplanted to 1106 recipients. In the same year 1479 patients were newly referred on the waiting list. It shows the need to increase the rate of organ donation and transplantation. Knowledge and positive attitude regarding organ donation among health professionals are necessary to obtain this aim and the ETPOD Project is a tool that allows to reach it.
Material/Methods: Poland is one out of 18 countries participating in the long-term (2007-2009) ETPOD Project. Its aim is to increase knowledge and awareness about organ donation, to maximize organ donation rates and to spread reliable information to the community. The basis of the project is the Target Area (TA) that is the area with a donor and transplant hospital and an area responsible person and where at least 125 health professionals should be trained: 2 Senior Transplant Coordinators, 2 Junior Transplant Coordinators, 1 Transplant Area Manager and 120 Health Professionals involved in the donor detection. The Essentials in Organ Donation Seminars concern donor detection and clinical evaluation, brain death, donor management, family approach for organ donation and organ allocation and distribution criteria. Projects' aim is to train minimum 3125 health professionals in 25 TAs in Europe, whereof 375 in 3 Polish TAs - Łódź, Bydgoszcz and Warszawa.
Results: In the Seminars held in 6 hospitals located in Polish TAs 474
participants were trained.
Conclusions: ETPOD Project effectiveness, evaluated according to statistical analysis will be known after project completion.

Keywords: Deceased Donor, Organ Procurement