MOHAN Foundation was invited to conduct a training on Deceased Organ donation, Protocols and Communication for Nursing, Paramedical & Security Staff of Kauvery Hospital, Chennai. This was an Angels of Change Training done on 23.11.2017 from 08 AM to 4 PM. Dr. Hemal Kanvinde and Mr. Siva Shankar represented MOHAN Foundation. 42 staff of the hospital attended the training.

Senior management of Kauvery Hospital Dr. K. Mahesh Kumar, Medical Officer; Dr. Iyappan Ponnusamy, Medical Director; Dr.  Senthil Kumar, GM Operations, Dr. Rajasekhar Perumalla, Liver Surgeon graced the welcome ceremony and encouraged the nurses to use the opportunity to learn.

The session started with a short movie on “Tamil Nadu leads the way”. This was followed with an introduction about MOHAN Foundation by Dr. Hemal Kanvinde. She spoke about the work done by MOHAN Foundation to the audiences, she continued with an Overview of Organ Donation and the various Courses available for Transplant Coordinators. She gave an in-depth view about the  History of Organ Donation and the beginning of Deceased Organ Donation in India. She then explained about the manual provided at the beginning of the session to the participants on the basics of organ donation and concepts.

Mr. Siva Shankar took the session on Concepts of Organ Donation and its need. He started with a question on “What is Organ donation” he then started with When, What, How and Why on Organ donation. He gave information on restriction in living donations. He further went through the myths people have in their minds, use of donor card and helpline number.

Dr. Hemal Kanvinde conducted a small quiz on blurred pictures of celebrities who have supported organ donation. The participants enjoyed the quiz and two participants got prizes for the correct answer.  

This was followed with a session by Dr. Sridhar, HOD ICU and Intensivist, Kauvery Hospital on with topic “Identification, Certification & Maintenance of a deceased donor”. He gave different scenarios of death and asked the nurses to explain death. There were many answers from the audience.  He further explained about Brain Death in detail and the tests that are taken to confirm when a patient is brain dead.  He then explained about the role of a Transplant Coordinator in Organ Donation and gave insights on good and bad communication during counselling the family.

Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, Nephrologist, Kauvery Hospital explained about Kidney Donation and Transplant. He shared many of his experiences on transplants done in various patients. He highlighted the importance of HLA and newer tests and immunosuppression. The session was very interactive and lively and he said that whenever he does a kidney transplant he feels happy only when urine comes out and that’s the perfect transplant for him. The audience enjoyed his session very well.

Followed by Dr. Rajasekhar Perumalla, Director & Senior Consultant – Liver & Pancreas Surgery, Department of Liver Diseases and Transplantation, Kauvery Hospital started explaining about Organ Retrieval Pre and Post Checks. He explained how we should take care of the patient before and after organ retrieval. Every document of the patient should be proper to have a good transplant.

The Communication workshop started in the afternoon. The participants were divided into four groups.

• The first activity was “Guidelines for ICU Nurses – Deceased Donor Coordination”. The activity is to set the cards in order in a chart from the beginning to the end what should be done for donor coordination. Every group was able to make out to the maximum.
• The second activity was a participant was called to the front and made her describe the picture to the participant so that everyone draws it properly. This activity to make them understand the importance of verbal communication.  
• The third activity was to help participants understand about empathy – by reading a donor story and watching a recipient video and write a thank you letter to the donor family on receiving a organ. The participants took the activity in a serious manner and wrote heart felt  thank you letters in English and Tamil.
• The fourth activity was a role play on each activity done during Organ donation like –  Counselling for organ donation, counselling liver transplant patient, transplant team meeting, counselling eye donation etc. Each group did their part very well.

The session ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. Senthil Kumar, General Manager - Operations MOHAN Foundation staff was felicitated with a small gift. Dr. Mahesh Kumar, Medical Administrator and Dr. Iyappan Ponnusamy, Medical Director & Radiologist, Kauvery Hospital were present. The program ended with a group photo.  MOHAN Foundation thanks Dr. Rajasekhar Perumalla for his efforts in getting this training organized at the hospital.