Continuing Education Credits

Accreditation for this Course

This course is approved for continuing education credit by a range of credit granting organizations.

  • Successful completion of this course is approved for 1.0 hours of Continuing Medical Education by the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC). 
     
  • The University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing awards 1.0 contact hours of nursing education for successful completion of this course. The University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. This accreditation will be good for up to 2 years from July 15, 2015. Planners, Authors and Content Experts have no conflicts of interest with this course.
    The University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health and School of Nursing are collaborating to present Donors Matter.  One hour (60 minute contact hour) will be awarded for successful completion of this activity.
    The University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.  ANCC Provider Number 0229.
     
  • This program is offered for 2.0 hours of social work continuing education through co-sponsorship of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work, a Council on Social Work Education-accredited school and, therefore, a PA pre-approval provider of social work continuing education.  These credit hours satisfy requirements for LSW/LCSW, LPC, LMFT biennial license renewal.  For information on social work continuing education, call 412-624-3711.
     
  • The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
    The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Each physician should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
    Other health care professionals are awarded ( 0.1 ) continuing education units (CEU) which are equivalent to 1.0 contact hours.
    Presenters for this program have been requested to identify financial or other relationships with manufacturer(s) of any commercial product(s) or with provider(s) of any commercial service(s) which, in the context of their topics, could be perceived as real or apparent conflicts of interest.
    The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution.

Course Description

This course prepares learners for properly handling organ and tissue donation opportunities in the clinical setting. Unit 1 introduces learners to the local and national organizations responsible for carrying out policies and procedures related to organ donation. It also introduces learners to two concepts important to the clinical practice prescribed in the course: “process breakdowns” and the “huddle.” Unit 2 describes the process through which patients meeting imminent death criteria are reported to CORE and emphasizes the importance of doing so in a timely and correct way, in accordance with federal mandate. Unit 3 instructs hospital staff on how to handle a potential donor case once the referral has been made. This includes talking with patient families about donation, understanding donor designation status, and types of donor authorization. Unit 4 describes appropriate measures for care of the donor, as well as the process of organ and tissue allocation.​

Methods of Participation

Anyone can participate in the educational activity by reading the unit chapters, viewing the instructional  videos, and taking the pre-test and the post-test. No affiliation with the University of Pittsburgh or any other institution is required in order to take this course.

Donors Matter is offered as part of an interactive course. If you complete all of the quizzes with an 80% passing rate, you will be eligible for Continuing Education credits. To earn these Continuing Education credits, you will need to go through the information on this site, as well as complete all questionnaires and assessments of the material, found at https://dmtraining.pitt.edu.

If you are interested in completing the questionnaires and assessments, you must first create an account. Click the link to your right to create an account. Confirm your account by checking your email and then complete the Initial Questionnaire, accessed through the second link on the right-hand side of this page. You can access the Donors Matter course from any page of the Donors Matter content site by clicking the "Graduation Cap" logo at the top of the page.

Once your account has been created, you can simply click the links to the Learning Assessment on each Unit Summary page to take the quiz for each unit. After you have passed all of the Unit Quizzes, there is a Final Questionnaire you must take in order to earn Continuing Education credit. Once you submit your request for a certificate of accreditation by one of the above accrediting bodies, your certificate will be issued and mailed within sixty days.

Course Requirements

  • Initial Questionnaire
  • Unit 1 Quiz
  • Unit 2 Quiz
  • Unit 3 Quiz
  • Unit 4 Quiz
  • Final Questionnaire 

Goal

The goal of this educational program is to train hospital personnel in the appropriate protocol to follow in the presence of a patient who meets the designated criteria for imminent death. Evidence has demonstrated that following proper protocol is positively associated with an increase in the rate of successful organ and tissue recovery and transplantation.

Target Audience

This course is designed for any hospital professional whose responsibilities bring them into contact with a patients who have potential to become an organ or tissue donor, or with the family of such patients. This includes physicians, nurses, social workers, respiratory therapists, pastoral counselors, and others. Opportunities for organ and tissue donation can occur in any hospital setting.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, learners should be able to:  

  1. Describe the legislative and regulatory framework that underlies organ and tissue donation on the national, state, and local level.
  2. Recognize and define the role of organ procurement organizations generally, and the operational role of organ procurement coordinators in clinical settings.
  3. Describe the correct process for notifying the Organ Procurement Organization when a patient meets designated imminent death criteria.
  4. List common ways the process for donor referral breaks down, and best practices for preventing these breakdowns.
  5. Identify the different types of donor authorization (first-person and third-person) and the implications of each when approaching the family.
  6. Learn importance and goals of proper donor management.

Language

English

Time

1 hour (1 lesson)

Fees

No fees are charged for these activities.

Support

If you are having trouble with the enrollment process after reading the above instructions, please contact donorsmatterstudy@gmail.com

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