Optimizing the organ procurement process: Organizational prerequisites and monitoring strategies in a national network

The current project sought to collect detailed information on the Italian donation system and in particular on the organization and functioning of the local coordinating centers. The final objective was to provide local and regional institutions with the information required to improve the system. While improving the knowledge of current Italian donation system, the project had constructive purposes. Our intention was to analyze how the national system is working, what the coordinating centers are actually doing, how they are organized, to what extent existing rules are obeyed, and what are the main limits of the system. This analysis sought to lead to the development of a set of proposals that can be summarized in two categories: (1) "intrinsic" actions, that is, those established and implemented at the hospital level; and (2) supporting "extrinsic" actions, that is, those identified by the National Transplant Centre and addressed to the regional and interregional coordinating networks. Finally, the analysis of the application of the existing rules should lead to the development of practice guidelines such that each center conforms to the existing regulations established by European directives.