Clinical Donation Specialist I

Description

Summary

The Clinical Donation Specialist I (CDS I) is responsible for providing technical assistance to the surgical organ recovery process including the preservation of organs for transplantation, importing organs, exporting organs, laboratory maintenance, and materials management.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities 

Provides a prompt, timely, professional response to all operating room organ recovery calls. 

Assembles all equipment and supplies.

Ensures recovery team completes all pre-recovery reviews of required documentation, verification, and surgical team credentialing.

Provides transportation of coolers, perfusion and slush solution, recovery medications, perfusion machines and all other necessary equipment to the donor hospital operating room (OR) at a time predetermined by the primary CDS. 

Assists the Operating Room hospital staff with prepping of donor.

Scrubs-in to assist with the procurement, preservation, and packaging of organs and specimens.

Assists in in-situ preservation and flush of donor organs.  This includes perfusion cannula set-up and preservation solution preparation, set-up and initiation of flush solution at the direction of the recovery surgeon or primary CDS, and monitoring of the quality of flow of flush solution in-situ.

Assists in the “back-table” flush of organs, and monitors the quality of the organ flush and quantity of flush solution used.  Communicates this information to recovering surgeon and documents this information.  

Assists the surgeon with organ packaging per UNOS and SHSC protocols.   

Assists primary CDS with other duties in the donor OR.  This includes:

• Lymph node and spleen removal and proper packaging;
• Documentation of OR and SHSC personnel;
• Documentation of organ anatomy and recovery times; and
• Copying and collating of donor chart material for packaging with the organs and for the Coroner and other recovery teams.

Ensures vessels are recovered for use in liver and pancreas transplants and are labeled and packaged correctly.

Performs post mortem care ensuring the organ donor is closed and cleaned properly following recovery, and may transport the donor to the morgue.

Recovers organs and associated tissues used for research.

Collects all organ recovery equipment and returns this to the office with the original copy of the donor chart.

Prepares, cannulates and places kidneys on pulsatile preservation machines.

Monitors pulsatile preservation on recovered kidneys, and evaluates post-recovery function.

Allocates organs (renal and extra-renal) from local, regional and national donors per UNOS and SHSC protocols. 

Maintains a thorough knowledge of the national computer program including operation of UNET and UNOS allocation system.  Documents information pertaining to each case in the donor and/or import chart.

Responsible for cleaning and organization of all perfusion areas and organ laboratories.  

Provides timely professional in-services and other presentations to area hospitals. 

Actively contributes to SHSC’s Hospital Development goals for donation. 

Makes presentations to professionals and the general public regarding donation. 

Represents SHSC at exhibit booths at public displays, as needed. 

Informs Coroner offices when donation is complete and the donor is ready for transport. 

Ensures the medical supply area is fully stocked, clean and organized. Cleans and maintains donor bags, coolers, recovery sets and equipment. 

Travels within the designated service area and travels out of state for recovery of imported organs.

Qualifications

• AS degree;
• Two (2) years of experience as a surgical technician preferred;
• Experience in the operating room and in sterile technique;
• Surgical technician certification preferred; or,
• An equivalent combination of education and experience.