Background: The Korea Organ Donation Agency (KODA) manages organ donation by receiving notifications of potential brain-dead donors, obtaining family consent, and transferring donors to hospitals capable of determining brain death when needed. This process imposes burdens on brain death-determining hospitals, requiring specialized transport personnel and resources. In 2024, a national critical care transport service using Seoul-Mobile ICU (SMICU) and Mobile ICU (MICU) was introduced to improve donor transfers in the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions. This study evaluated the service’s impact on medical staff satisfaction and its role in promoting organ donation.
Methods: A survey was conducted with 51 healthcare professionals from 12 donor-referring hospitals, 11 brain death-determining hospitals, and two critical care transport teams. Two areas were assessed: satisfaction with the transport service and its contribution to organ donation activation. Positive response rates (‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’) and average rates per group were analyzed.
Results: Among donor-referring hospitals, 84% responded positively to the transport service, with an average positive rate of 88%. In brain death-determining hospitals, 92.3% showed positive responses, with an identical average rate. All transport service personnel (100%) responded positively. Notably, all 51 participants (100%) agreed that dedicated critical care ambulances contribute to activating organ donation and supported the expansion of this service nationwide. Reasons cited included 'hemodynamic stability of critically ill donors' (52%), 'reducing transport burden' (32%), and 'professional transport staff' (16%) in referring hospitals. In brain death-determining hospitals, the main reasons were 'professionalism' (24%), 'patient stability' (20%), and 'reduced workload' (8%). Suggested improvements included enhancing inter-hospital cooperation (33.3%), increasing vehicle availability (23.8%), and establishing faster transfer protocols (21.4%).
Conclusion: The national critical care transport service has improved donor transfer efficiency and safety, increased medical staff satisfaction, and positively influenced organ donation in Korea. Its benefits include reduced workload, professional transport management, and improved patient stability. Future priorities include expanding the service nationwide and strengthening hospital collaboration and transfer systems.