Liver Recipient Transplant Coordinator

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Practice

 Under the supervision of the Transplant Service Manager

• To provide a specialist nursing service for patients and their relatives undergoing abdominal transplantation.

• To jointly manage a client caseload from point of assessment through transplant, discharge and long term follow up, ensuring continuity of a high standard of evidence based nursing care

• To introduce the potential transplant recipients and their carers to the concept of transplantation providing an individualised education programme throughout the process.

• To provide psychological, practical and emotional support to transplant recipients and their carers throughout the transplant process based on their individual needs.

• To be jointly responsible for a caseload of patients ensuring at all times that patients have an accurate plan of care, which reflects the assessment undertaken.

• To work autonomously assessing patient and their carers needs throughout the process, making referrals to the appropriate multi disciplinary team agencies, under the supervision of senior transplant coordinators.

• To provide appropriate follow up care to patients ensuring all relevant information is available to enable patients to make informed decisions/ choices concerning their treatment options.

• To attend multidisciplinary team meetings and coordinate meetings as appropriate to role.

• To regularly review clinical status of patients awaiting transplantation and ensure all diagnostic investigations and results are up to date. Ensure logistical arrangements are in place to facilitate emergency admission for transplant.

• To liase with MDT and influence appropriate and timely discharge ensuring follow up arrangements are in place for patients.

• To liase with referring consultants, community, social services, GPs and counselling services to develop service for patients, carers and health care professionals.

• To actively involve service users in providing feedback of their experience of the current service and give suggestions for its improvement and development. 

On Call

 Under supervision of the Transplant Service Manager

• Participate in an on call rota to ensure all potential liver / small bowel / islet / hepatocyte offers are facilitated 24 hrs a day, 365 days year.

• Receive all referrals from both allocated geographical zone and UK wide.

• Co-ordinate emergency listing of patients in acute liver failure providing appropriate psychological support for families.

• Provide an immediate response to incoming fast track offers from within the UK and Europe, Maintaining effective communication channels with European Transplant Agencies.

• Facilitate all abdominal organ retrievals (UK / Europe), organisation of retrieval team / transport, maintaining effective communication with team whilst off site.

• Provision of a rapid response and onsite presence in the event of a DCD donor referral / retrieval. Organisation of the team / transport, ongoing off site communication, preparation of potential recipient.

• To ensure all relevant donor clinical information is obtained, provide advice to SN-OD regarding organ specific management, and further investigations / exploration that may be required.

• Liase with duty transplant surgeon to ascertain suitability of organ for transplantation and appropriate patient selection based on clinical assessment and waiting list data.

• To provide clinical support, expert nursing advice and ongoing education to patients / families at any time during the on call period. Make clinical assessments of patients current condition and offer appropriate evidence based emergency / and non-emergency advice to ensure patient safety.

• Provision of psychological and emotional support to patients and their families using effective communication skills and counselling strategies during the immediate pre transplant phase, transit to theatre and peri operatively. 

• To provide onsite clinical assessment of the potential recipient using primary / secondary data to establish suitability for transplantation in conjunction with medical colleagues. 

• Recognition of clinical concerns and appropriate reporting to consultant transplant surgeon and consultant anaesthetist with implementation of clinical recommendations to ensure overall safety of patient during surgery. 

• Co-ordinate and facilitate the process of transplantation, liasing and negotiating with numerous disciplines, SN-OD, recipient co-ordinator colleagues, transplant surgeons, anaesthetic / theatre staff, medical / nursing staff, laboratory services and administrative staff.

Education Audit and Research

• Promote and educate patients, health care professionals and the general public about the benefits of transplantation / organ donation. 

• Communicate complex information to potential recipients and their carers using a high level of communication skills to facilitate understanding, acceptance and reassurance. 

• Provide specialist information for patients and carers in a method which promotes awareness, understanding and empowers patients to make decisions regarding their care. 

• Act as a resource of expert advice for all health care professionals and other relevant parties within the trust and externally. 

• Prepare educational materials to support education strategy and meet individual patient’s needs 

• Initiate and participate in any appropriate / relevant Trust approved research projects within the care group. 

• Liase with National Health Service Blood and Transplant ( NHSBT) ensuring all statutory documentation including audit requirements are met promptly according to national guidelines. 

• Participate individually and jointly in the academic output from the transplant coordinators as a group. Submitting nationally and internationally.