Parc Taulí is an organ and tissue extraction center authorized by the Catalan Transplant Organization (OCATT) since 1994. During this time, the number of donors has increased considerably, especially in the last decade, where there have been 152 organ donors, becoming one of the leading non-transplant centers in organ donation in Catalonia.
2024 was a historic year for the Parc Taulí transplant coordination team because the first heart donation in controlled asystole was made from a person who had received assistance in dying. "This donation marked a turning point for our hospital and our team. It was a very important challenge for us to be able to carry it out."”, explains Dr. Chelo Guía, hospital transplant coordinator.
The key to continuing to be one of the leading hospitals in donation is the work done by the transplant team in detecting potential donors and the solidarity of donors and their families.
The healthcare team involved in the process of coordinating organ and tissue donation at Parc Taulí is made up of five doctors: Dr. Chelo Guía, Dr. Jorge Lema, Dr. María Luisa Martínez, Dr. Raquel Peredo and Dr. Sonia Marco. They are professionals who dedicate themselves to this task part-time and who are specifically trained in this area to know how to detect potential donors and ensure the quality of the organs. They are also responsible for carrying out all the necessary procedures to carry out the process: interviewing relatives, evaluating and maintaining the donor and coordinating the extraction of organs and tissues.
Donations of organs and tissues from deceased donors can be due to brain death (cerebral) or asystole (cardiac arrest). In this sense, the proportion is 50%. During 2024 there were a total of 22 organ donors -11 due to brain death and 11 due to controlled asystole-, which allowed 66 transplants to be carried out. The majority of donors were over 60 years old.
"According to our legislation, we are all donors unless we have expressed otherwise. However, it is very important to be able to record our opinion about donation and, for this reason, we can discuss it with our relatives and those around us, indicate it to My Health, get a donor card or specify it in the advance directive document”, as Dr. Chelo Guía reminds us. You can consult all the information here.
The organ and tissue donation team at Parc Taulí participated in the last XXXIX National Congress of Transplant Coordinators, presenting two scientific communications on two studies related to the population's refusals to donate organs and what the impact of adolescents is in organ donation training sessions.
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