Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct 14;23(1):332.
doi: 10.1186/s12882-022-02959-5.

Potential living kidney donors' positive experiences of an information letter from healthcare: a descriptive qualitative study

Affiliations

Potential living kidney donors' positive experiences of an information letter from healthcare: a descriptive qualitative study

Eva Lagging et al. BMC Nephrol. .

Abstract

Background: Patients who need a live donor kidney transplant (LDKT) must often ask potential donors (PLDs) themselves. This is a difficult task and healthcare could unburden them by making this first contact, ensuring also that PLDs receive correct information. We investigated how PLDs experience receiving a letter from healthcare about LDKT, live kidney donation, and inviting them to meet with professionals to get more information.

Methods: The letter (LD-letter) was sent to a cohort of 46 individuals, from which a purposeful sample of 15 were interviewed using a semi-structured guide covering their experience of the letter, views on being approached by healthcare, and opinions on style and content. Interviews were analyzed using conventional inductive analysis.

Results: We identified three categories of experiences: Category (1) Reflections on receiving the letter, contains three subcategories relating to how the letter did not induce pressure to donate, did not affect the PLD's relationship with the patient with kidney disease, and made the letter-receiver feel important in the transplant process; Category (2) The letter creates clarification and trust, also contains three subcategories, relating to how it clarified the voluntariness of donation and neutrality of healthcare providers with respect to the PLD's decision, elucidated the patient with kidney disease's current stage of disease (where transplantation was approaching), and unburdened patients from the responsibility of contacting PLDs on their own; Category (3) Opinions and suggestions about the letter and further communication, with four subcategories, relating to preference of a letter as the first step for communication about LDKT, suggestions on style and content, views on following up the letter, and how open meetings about LDKT were an important information source. Furthermore, 80% of the interviewees found the letter's information comprehensive, 67% found it easy to read and respectful, and 86% rated it as good or very good.

Conclusion: Potential donors prefer and recommend a letter as the first step for communication regarding LD. The LD-letter unburdens patients from the task of asking PLDs and stresses the voluntariness of donation, does not leave PLDs feeling coerced or lead to negative effects in their relationship with the patient.

Keywords: Healthcare; Information; Living kidney donor; Qualitative; Recruitment phase; Transplantation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. GBD Chronic Kidney Disease Collaboration. Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet (London, England). 2020;395(10225):709–33. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tonelli M, Wiebe N, Knoll G, Bello A, Browne S, Jadhav D, et al. Systematic review: kidney transplantation compared with dialysis in clinically relevant outcomes. Am J Transplant. 2011;11(10):2093–109. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2011.03686.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mahillo B, Carmona M, Alvarez M, White S, Noel L, Matesanz R. 2009 global data in organ donation and transplantation: activities, laws, and organization. Transplantation. 2011;92(10):1069–74. doi: 10.1097/TP.0b013e31823360b1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Meier-Kriesche HU, Kaplan B. Waiting time on dialysis as the strongest modifiable risk factor for renal transplant outcomes: a paired donor kidney analysis. Transplantation. 2002;74(10):1377–81. doi: 10.1097/00007890-200211270-00005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Svenska njurregistrets årsrapport. 2021. (Annual Report of the Swedish Renal Registry for 2021) SNR_arsrapport 2021_webversion.pdf (medscinet.net).

Publication types