Knowledge of Criteria for Brain Death and Attitudes towards Organ Donation and Transplantation of Nursing Professionals in Tottori Prefecture, Japan

The nursing professional population in Tottori Prefecture, Japan, was studied for their knowledge of criteria towards brain death and their attitudes towards organ donation and organ transplantation. An attempt was also made to clarify factors involved in issues concerning organ donation and organ transplantation. We distributed 2200 questionnaires to 9 hospitals, and obtained 1879 responses, of which 1683 were valid. The rate of nursing professionals holding donor cards to all respondents was 384/1683 (22.8%). The length of nursing service showed no difference in improvement of awareness of brain death. Longer length of service tended to produce a negative attitude in nurses towards donating their own organs in both brain death and cardiac death. Subjects who were willing to donate organs to others in cardiac death were also willing to do so in brain death. We provided some general suggestions for improving education about organ transplantation in Japan, such as commencing provisions for education regarding organ donation and organ transplantation in junior high school due to ethical issues. To more clearly identify the barriers against the improvement of the situation surrounding organ transplantation, research needs to be cumulated for nursing professionals

The Contribution of Temporal Flat Lateral Position on the Mortality and Discharge Rates of Older Patients with Severe Dysphagia

Severe dysphagia leads to mortality in older patients and hinders their discharge from hospitals. The temporal flat lateral position (TFLP) enables them to continuously eat, thus resolving the aforementioned issues. We aimed to explore the effect of TFLP on the mortality and discharge rates of older patients with severe dysphagia. This interventional study comprised a historical control of patients admitted to a rural community hospital from January 2019 to December 2020 and diagnosed with severe dysphagia. The primary outcomes included the mortality and the rate of discharge from the hospital. While the intervention group was treated with TFLP, the control group underwent no treatment. We selected 79 participants (intervention group = 26, control group = 53), with an average age of 87.9 years. The discharge rate was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group (57.7% vs. 26.4%, p = 0.012). The mortality rate was also significantly lower in the intervention group compared to the control group (34.6% vs. 71.7%, p = 0.003). TFLP can improve the discharge and mortality rates in community hospitals, thereby improving patient outcomes. Clinicians should focus on practical education and the implementation of TFLP in communities in order to promote it