Ethical conflicts experienced by nurses during the organ donation process

Objective: To determine ethical conflicts experienced by nursing during the organ donation process. Methods: This qualitative study used the content analysis approach developed by Bardin. We interviewed eleven nurses who had cared for potential donors of organs for transplantation. Four questions were used to guide the interview. Results: After analysis, five categories emerged: difficulty in accepting brain death; non-acceptance of the multidisciplinary team for withdrawing mechanical ventilation of the non-donor patient after brain death; difficulty of the multidisciplinary team during the organ donation process; and situations that can interfere with the organ donation process and decision making in ethical conflicts. Conclusion: Ethical conflicts experienced by nurses during the organ donation process were difficulty of health care professionals in accepting brain death as the death of the individual, non-acceptance of withdrawing mechanical ventilation in non-donor patients after brain death, lack of knowledge to perform the brain death protocol, lack of commitment, negligence in care for potential donors, scarcity of human and material resources, religion, and lack of communication.