Your Transplant Care Teams

• Donor care team
• Recipient care team

Donor Care Team

Donors are well-supported by a comprehensive team of transplant experts, including:

Advanced Practice Provider: Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants assist in all aspects of the donor’s inpatient and outpatient care, including donor consultation, evaluation, education, testing, living donor surgery, and post-transplant care.

Dietitian: Helps with the nutrition-related aspects of donor’s evaluation and care. The donor and dietitian may discuss the following items during evaluation:

• Questions about diet
• Previous and current medical history including weight, exercise/activity habits, cooking tendencies and more
• How proper nutrition can help prepare the body for transplant and recovery
• Food/drug interaction and safety after transplant

Living Donor RN Care Coordinator: Screens the donor and answers their questions, providing education and follow-up. They are often the first person to speak with a potential donor.

Pharmacist: Available for patients throughout all phases of transplantation and living donation. They work with the multidisciplinary team to provide various levels of assessments/interventions to patients based on the patient’s needs and status.

Social Worker: Provides psychosocial support for the donor pre- and post-transplant. Meets with the donor during evaluation to discuss:

• Ability to be compliant with medications and recommendations
• Caregiver options
• Ethical concerns
• Financial concerns
• Home life and living situation
• Mental health history including alcohol and drug use
• Risks and benefits of donation surgery
• Transportation and housing issues

Specialty Physicians: Provide care regarding specialized conditions. These could include dermatologists, endocrinologists, cardiologists, pulmonologists, psychiatrists and other specialists. Your transplant physician will recommend these consults if they are necessary for your situation.

Transplant Physician: Oversees the donor’s complete care along with all members of the care team. Reviews all consultations and specialty visits, and consults on donor’s candidacy for donation.

Transplant Surgeon: Responsible for evaluating the donor’s anatomy, suitability for surgery, the operation, and the aftercare of your incision.

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Independent Living Donor Advocate:

The Independent Living Donor Advocate works independently of the Transplant Center and in collaboration with the multidisciplinary teams.

They advocate on behalf of the donor, protecting the donor’s rights and decision. The Independent Living Donor Advocate meets with the donor through all phases of care including pre-donation, donation and post-donation to discuss:

• Informed consent for the surgery
• Comfort level with information received and needed to make decisions throughout the process
• The evaluation process
• The surgical procedure
• Medical and psychosocial risks
• Follow up plans and requirements
• The risks/benefits of the surgery

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Recipient care team

Transplant recipients are well-supported by a comprehensive team of transplant experts, including:

Advanced Practice Provider (APP): Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants assist transplant surgeons, hepatologists and nephrologists with the recipient’s inpatient and outpatient care, including consultation, evaluation, testing and transplant surgery. APPs also play an integral role in the recipient’s post-transplant care, providing education, health promotion, disease management and care coordination.

Cardiologist: Specializes in disorders of the heart and evaluates patient for transplant.

Dietitian: Helps with the nutrition-related aspects of preparing for and recovering from transplant. The recipient and dietitian may discuss the following items during evaluation:

• Questions about diet
• Previous and current medical history including weight, exercise/activity habits, cooking tendencies and more
• How proper nutrition can help prepare the body for transplant and recovery
• Food/drug interaction and safety  after transplant

Endocrinologist: Specializes in disorders of the pancreas/endocrine system and evaluates the patient for transplant.

Hepatologist: Specializes in disorders of the liver and evaluates patient for transplant.

Nephrologist: Specializes in disorders of the kidney and evaluates patient for transplant.

Pharmacist: Available for patients throughout all phases of transplantation and living donation. They work with the multidisciplinary team to provide various levels of assessments/interventions to patients based on the patient’s needs and status.

Pre-Transplant RN Care Coordinator: Responsible for all of the communication that goes on among patient, doctors, clinics and hospitals before transplant. The Pre-Transplant RN Care Coordinator meets with the patient during pre-transplant care to discuss:

• Health status for transplant
• Recommendations from the transplant team
• Education about transplantation, the evaluation process, surgical procedure, antirejection medications and post-transplant care
• Diagnostic tests and procedures required as part of evaluation

Post-Transplant RN Care Coordinator: Responsible for all of the communication that goes on among patient, doctors, clinics and hospitals after transplant. The Post-Transplant RN Care Coordinator meets with the patient during post-transplant care in order to:

• Assess patient for health status changes
• Provide education on recovery, including medications, when to return to the clinic, post-transplant labs, etc.
• Emphasize the importance of having a local provider to provide continuous care

Pulmonologist: Specializes in disorders of the lungs and evaluates the patient for transplant.

Social Worker: Provides psychosocial support pre- and post-transplant by discussing:

• Caregiver and support network
• Mental health history including alcohol and drug use
• Ability to be compliant with medications and recommendations
• Financial concerns
• Transportation and housing issues
• Home life and living situation

Specialty Physicians: Provide care regarding specialized conditions. These could include dermatologists, endocrinologists, cardiologists, pulmonologists and other specialists. Your transplant physician will recommend these consults if they are necessary for your situation.

Transplant Financial Coordinator: Helps with financial and insurance questions. The financial coordinator meets with each patient to help them understand their insurance coverage and answer questions related to the coverage for transplant appointments and surgery.

Transplant Surgeon: Evaluates patient for surgery, conducts the operation and provides the aftercare of your incision.

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