Travel Nursing and Organ Transplantation: the Potential

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The surgical replacement of damaged or diseased organs is referred to as an organ transplant with the healthier organ usually being taken from a person shortly after death. It is generally considered to be the last resort for people who are terminally ill based on the failure of a critical organ. Depending on the deceased person’s age and the condition of their organs at the time of their death, the following organs and tissues can be donated:

Here is some further information regarding the different organs mentioned above where transplanting them is concerned:

Heart– even though they beat roughly 2.5 billion times in a person’s lifetime, they will only survive about 4 hours once they are removed from the donor’s body.

Kidneys – a transplanted kidney has an average lifespan of 10 to 15 years. But his is only an average and some live much longer as published in Wikipedia

• Bill Thompson is the longest surviving American kidney recipient. Having received his kidney in 1966 at age 15, it has survived over 40 years .
• Denice Lombard of Washington, D.C., received her father's kidney on August 30, 1967, aged 13 and is still alive and healthy forty years later.
• In Kenya, John Dan of Nairobi is the longest known surviving kidney recipient in East Africa. He received a kidney from his brother in 1984 and is still alive twenty six years later.

Liver – the mortality rate among individuals waiting for a liver transplant is almost 15%.

Lungs – single or double transplants as well as a single lobe can be transplanted although the latter will not regenerate.

Pancreas – portions of the pancreas can be transplanted while the donor retains functionality of the remaining portion of the organ.

Small intestine – although it is rare, portions of the small intestine can be successfully transplanted.

Transplant tourism

Transplant tourism, or more specifically organ transplant tourism is the common terminology that refers those individuals who travel internationally for the sole purpose of having an organ transplant procedure performed. They will typically travel to poor or “3rd world” countries to have the surgery performed. What is so interesting about transplant tourism is that donors in these countries sell organs, such as one of their kidneys, because they are easy to coerce into donating them, poor, or just vulnerable. They are not altruistically motivated to do so.

Organ transplant tourism came about due to a couple of factors. First and foremost, organ transplanting is viewed as being a life-saving maneuver. Secondly, organ transplant tourism became a viable option in order to counteract the shortage of the overall donor organ supply. It is not a fad, nor did the concept arise because it was fashionable. UK Transplant, the NHS website illustrated this fact with the following quote – “Today, more than 9,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant. But less than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year.”

Is there a connection between travel nursing and organ transplants?

The question often arises regarding the possible correlation between travel nursing jobs and organ transplants. Travel nurse jobs have grown in popularity in an effort to counteract the shortage of nurses on a worldwide scale, especially where LPN’s, LVN’s, and RN’s are concerned, as well as other Allied Health professionals.

Additionally, when you take factors such as education, expertise, and patient care into consideration, the transplant nurse has certain skills that other nurses do not possess. So it stands to reason that travel nursing jobs requiring organ transplant knowledge can be available in the more medically advanced countries of the world.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You