Burnout and Resilience in Organ and Tissue Donor Coordinators: The BRiC Program Organ and tissue donation coordinators face challenging and stressful scenarios on a daily basis, and this frequent exposure leaves them susceptible to developing of work-related issues like burnout and compassion fatigue. Research on turnover rates among these healthcare workers has shown that job tenure for coordinators is less than three years, a possible consequence of work-related issues. Consequently, turnover rates may have a significant impact on the ability of organ donation organizations to optimize donation in their programs. Little was known about the true extent of work-related issues among organ donation coordinators worldwide, and very little was known about how it may impact coordinators in Canada. Therefore, the Burnout and Resilience in Organ Donor Coordinators (BRIC) program focuses on identifying burnout in organ donor coordinators and developing interventions to support coordinators in their workplace. In this three-phase research we systematically investigate ways to minimize the impact of compassion fatigue, burnout, and moral distress, and to identify ways to increase resilience among healthcare workers who support organ and tissue donors and their families at end-of-life and through organ donation. The overall BRiC program is led by Dr. Vanessa Silva e Silva at Brock University with the support of Canadian Blood services, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and in collaboration with Canada's organ and tissue donation community. Some steps of the program have had the leadership of Dr. Amina Silva e Silva. About the BRiC Study Core Research Team Collaborators and patient partners: varies according to the sub-projects of the BRiC program BRiC Phase I – Scoping review Overview: We conducted a scoping review of the international literature to develop a comprehensive description of burnout and compassion fatigue, including risk/protective factors, among organ and tissue donation coordinators worldwide. Results: Burnout and compassion fatigue among organ donation coordinators: a scoping review protocol. Published at JBI. Burnout and compassion fatigue among organ donation coordinators: a scoping review. Published at BMJ. BRiC Phase II – Mixed-methods study Overview: We conducted a national mixed-method study using an online quantitative survey followed by qualitative interviews to explore burnout, compassion fatigue, moral distress, resilience and stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic among organ donation coordinators. The results from this study are being used to inform the development of phase III of the BRiC program. Status: Study is complete and results of the study are under review for publication or already in progress: Resilience among organ donation coordinators: a Canadian mixed-methods study (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1367546/full) Understanding the work-related challenges of organ and tissue donation coordinators during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed method study. BMJ Open (under review). Uncovering Work-Related Issues Among Canadian Organ Donation Coordinators: A National Mixed-Methods Study (in progress) Experiences of Organ and Tissue Donation Coordinators within the health care team: A Qualitative Study (in progress) Major Stressors and Satisfying Aspects for Organ and Tissue Donation Coordinators: A Canadian Qualitative Study Experiences of Organ and Tissue Donation Coordinators within the health care team: A Qualitative Study (in progress) BRiC Phase III - Interventional study Overview: In this phase we are developing a toolkit with coping strategies as a resource for coordinators to use in their practice and support the work-related wellbeing of coordinators. Status: Completed scoping review of the literature on available coping mechanisms used by critical care nurses. Led by Dr. Amina Silva Research protocol: https://cjccn.ca/featured-article/coping-strategies-used-by-registered-nurses-in-acute-and-critical-care-settings-a-scoping-review-protocol/ Full manuscript submitted for publication (under review) Toolkit development (ongoing) Additional projects related to BRiC Burnout, compassion fatigue and work-related stressors among organ donation and transplantation coordinators: A qualitative study. Published at ICCN. Burnout and compassion fatigue among organ donation coordinators: A Canadian perspective. Published at CJCCN. The Experiences and Perceptions of Organ and Tissue Donation Coordinators Participating in a Team Cohesion and Communication Workshop: An Exploratory Descriptive Qualitative Study. Published in CJCCN. If you would like to know more and potentially collaborate with this study, please contact our research team at vsilvaesilva@brocku.ca. Conference Presentations and Recognitions List of Awards received for the BRiC program 10/2024 2024 CST Annual Scientific Meeting - Top Oral Abstract Award 12/2023 CIHR Travel Awards - Institute Community Support Competition 05/2023 CST Nursing and Allied Health Travel Grant - (declined) 06/2023 2023 ISODP Scientific Congress Award - International Society for Organ Donation and Procurement 1/2022 The Transplantation Society - TTS Allied Health Professional Award for the 29th International Congress of the Transplantation Society National Conferences: Silva e Silva V., Dhanani S., Lotherington K., Silva A. (2024) Studying Burnout and Resilience in Organ and Tissue Donor Coordinators and Developing Interventions. Canadian Critical Care Nursing Conference, Regina – SK – Invited Speaker Silva e Silva V., Dhanani S., Lotherington K., James L., Silva A. (2023) Understanding Compassion Fatigue, Moral Distress, and Burnout Among Organ Donation Coordinators in Canada: A Mixed-Methods Study. Critical Care Canada Forum. Silva e Silva V. (2023) Equitable Access to Transplantation Canada View. International Transplant Nurses Society Annual Meeting, United States of America - Invited Speaker Silva e Silva V. (2022). Uncovering work-related problems among organ donation coordinators (ODC): The BRiC research program. Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses - Dynamics 2022, Canada - Invited Speaker Silva V.S. Burnout among Donation Coordinators: Progresses with the BRiC Study and Preliminary Results. Dynamics of Critical Care 2020, Canada - Invited Speaker Silva V.S. Burnout among Donation Coordinators: Progresses with the BRiC Study and Preliminary Results. Canadian Society of Transplantation Virtual Forum 2020, Canada - Invited Speaker Silva V.S., Hornby L., Lotherington K., Appleby A., Dhanani S.. Burnout and Resiliency Levels Among Organ Donation Coordinators: Research Protocol. 2019 Canadian Transplant Summit, October 16-19, Banff – Alberta Silva V.S., Hornby L., Almost J., Lotherington K., Appleby A., Dhanani S. Burnout and Resilience Among Organ Donation Coordinators: Scoping Review Protocol. 2019 Canadian Transplant Summit, October 16-19, Banff – Alberta International Conferences: Silva, A., Silva e Silva, V., Lotherington, K. & Dhanani S. Coping Strategies Among ACC Nurses: A Scoping Review. The Transplantation Society Conference, Turkey Silva e Silva V., Dhanani S., Lotherington K., Silva A. (2023) Compassion fatigue, moral distress, and burnout among organ donation coordinators in Canada: Results from a national mixed-methods study. The Transplantation Society Conference, Turkey Silva, A., Silva e Silva, V., Lotherington, K. & Dhanani S. Coping Strategies Among ACC Nurses: A Scoping Review. CST 2024 (accepted but declined). Silva e Silva, V., Hornby, L., Silva, A. & Dhanani, S. Studying Burnout and Compassion Fatigue among OTDCS. CST 2024. Award winner Silva, A., Silva e Silva, V., Lotherington, K. & Dhanani S. Coping Strategies Among ACC Nurses: A Scoping Review. Canadian Critical Care Forum 2023 Silva e Silva, V., Silva, A., Lotherington, K. & Dhanani S. The BRiC study. Canadian Critical Care Forum 2023 Silva e Silva V., Silva A., Hornby L., Lotherington K., Dhanani S. (2023) Understanding Compassion Fatigue, Moral Distress, and Burnout Among Organ Donation Coordinators in Canada: A Mixed-Methods Study. International Society for Organ Donation and Preservation Silva e Silva, V., Hornby, L., Silva, A. & Dhanani, S. Silva e Silva, V., Hornby, L., Silva, A. & Dhanani, S. Studying Burnout and Compassion Fatigue among OTDCS. International Transplant Nurses Society 2023. International Transplant Nurses Society 2023 Vanessa Silva e Silva and Amina Silva. (2023). The Bric Study - Burnout among Organ Donation Coordinators. 2023 Donation and Transplantation Conference ‘Back to the Future’ on the 2nd-3rd May 2023 in Melbourne, Australia- Invited Speaker Silva e Silva V, Silva A. (2022). Uncovering Work-Related Concerns Among Organ Donation Coordinators: The BRiC Research Program. 29th International Congress of the Transplantation Society, Argentina Silva e Silva, V., Hornby, L., Lotherington, K., Rochon, A., Silva, A., Pearson, H., MacNutt, L., Robertson, A., Werestiuk, K., Kuhl, D., John, P., Dhanani, S. & Sarti, A. (2022) The Experiences of Organ and Tissue Donation Coordinators Participating in a Team Cohesion and Communication Workshop: An Exploratory Descriptive Qualitative Study. International Congress of The Transplantation Society 2022. Silva e Silva V. (2021). Oral presentation: A Workshop To Improve Team Cohesion And Communication Among Organ And Tissue Donation Coordinators: An Exploratory Qualitative Study. 2021 ITNS Annual Meeting, United States of America - Invited Speaker Silva V.S. Burnout and Resiliency Panel. ITNS 2020 Annual Meeting Goes Virtual, United States – Invited Speaker Funding:

This national organ donation and transplantation COVID-19 impact dashboard was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and is intended to help the community better understand, in near real time, the impact the COVID-19 crisis has had, either directly or indirectly on organ donation and transplantation practices in Canada and by extension, what impact these changes have had on potential donors and transplant candidates. Reporting of Covid-19 case data was discontinued May 2023.

Health care professionals in donation and transplantation are invited to attend a series of webinars focusing on psychological first aid, grief and loss, and moral distress, within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A severe mass event like this pandemic can cause the general public and those affected by COVID-19, including health care workers, to be mentally impacted. Psychological First Aid is an intervention method that can help people in distress during these challenging times. The webinars will be recorded, in case you cannot attend the live events or you experience technical issues. For questions, please contact otdt@blood.ca Part 1: Psychological First Aid during COVID-19 | May 12, 2020 | 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. (ET) Handout Part 2: Grief and Loss during COVID-19 May 19, 2020 | 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. (ET) Handout Part 3: Moral Distress during COVID-19 June 2, 2020 | 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. (ET) Handout 1 Handout 2 Handout 3 Presenters Dr. David Kuhl Dr. David Kuhl is a Professor in the Departments of Family Practice and Urologic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Kuhl graduated with a Masters in Health Sciences (Community Health and Epidemiology) from the University of Toronto in 1981, and received his medical degree from McMaster University in 1985. After completing his training in Family Practice (1987) he worked as a family practitioner and a palliative care physician. In that context he conducted a qualitative study, Exploring Spiritual and Psychological Issues at the End of Life. The study served as the basis for his doctoral dissertation (Interdisciplinary PhD, UBC 1999) for a book, entitled What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom for the End-of-Life and for the founding of the Centre for Practitioner Renewal at Providence Health Care. Throughout his career David has worked to integrate medicine, psychology and the social sciences as a clinician and a researcher. This is evident in the programs he has founded, namely the Palliative Care Program at St. Paul’s Hospital, the Veterans Transition Program, the Centre for Practitioner Renewal (CPR), and most recently, The Men’s Initiative. His work at the CPR focused on sustaining health care providers in the work place, understanding the effect of being in the presence of suffering and working with health care providers in addressing resilience, communication and healthy relationships in the workplace. While no longer working at the CPR, David continues this work as a consultant to health care teams and services, locally, provincially and nationally. Since the onset of the pandemic, David, along with his colleagues, has been involved in developing a program of support for physicians who are working with those who have experienced the coronavirus. His primary focus is that of a co-founder of The Men’s Initiative, an endeavour that seeks to enhance the integrity and well-being of men for the benefit of families, communities and the globe. Linda MacNutt Linda MacNutt MSW RSW integrates her professional background in nursing and social work working as member of an interdisciplinary consulting team with a focus on collegial, meaningful relationships, resilience and the delivery of compassionate care. Her social work career has seen 34 years work experience in Child Welfare, Mental Health and Health Care in both urban and rural settings. Health Care has been her predominate field of practice involving work with patients and families primarily in the adult specialty areas of Nephrology: Dialysis and Transplant and Cardiology: Transplant and Healthy Heart. Since 2001 the focus of Linda’s work has addressed the care and well being of health care staff in acute and residential care settings. From 2001-2008 she collaboratively developed and coordinated the Cumulative and Critical Incident Stress Management program (CCISM) at Providence Health Care. Linda is a Certified trainer for 1 on 1 Provider Training and for the group Resilience Advantage program developed by the HeartMath Institute in Boulder Creek, USA. She is a member of ICISF and TIR. One of the founding members of the Provincial Disaster Psychosocial Services Program (DPS) Linda is also a council member representing the BC Association of Social Workers. Associated with DPS she co-facilitates DPS Psychological First Aid (PFA) training and may be called upon to respond during disaster events. Dr. Hilary Pearson Dr. Pearson has an MA in Counselling Psychology and interdisciplinary PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from UBC. Hilary worked as a psychotherapist in the Centre for Practitioner Renewal (CPR) at Providence Health Care for 11 years and served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Practice Medicine at UBC for 7 years. Hilary has broad experience in trauma repair and in alleviating or preventing vicarious traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and moral distress. This includes work with First Nations survivors of residential schools, practitioners involved in residential school healing, physicians, and multi-disciplinary health care teams. As part of a team of interdisciplinary consultants, her current focus is working with health care providers and organizations to enhance vitality, sustainability, and the delivery of relationship centred compassionate care. Dr. Paul Whitehead Paul Whitehead completed his MA and PhD in counselling psychology at the University of BC, and has been a registered psychologist since 2008. He has worked for over 20 years in the field of psychological trauma, vicarious trauma and work-related stress, which has included over 12 years working with individuals, teams and groups of health care providers with the Centre for Practitioner Renewal at Providence Health Care in Vancouver. He is currently an associate clinical professor with the Department of Family Practice at the University of BC, clinical supervisor and case consultant with the BC Society for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse (BCSMSSA) and national clinical director for the Veterans Transition Network. His current focus is on the use of team and group-oriented approaches to develop resilience and address the impact of work-related stress, vicarious trauma and post-traumatic stress amongst health care providers, first responders and veterans.