The Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance (“The Alliance”) has opened its Staffing & Competencies Survey, a new national survey designed to capture a clear, current picture of quality roles at organ procurement organizations (OPOs) and transplant centers across the country.
Developed by the National Transplant & Donation Quality Collaborative’s Standards & Competencies Subcommittee, the survey asks quality professionals about their day-to-day scope of work, the education and clinical experience their roles require, and how their programs validate competency. The goal is to build the field’s first shared picture of how quality work is actually staffed and structured across both transplant centers and OPOs.
“The survey results will give us something we haven’t had before — a clear, current picture of who is doing quality work in our field, and what it actually takes to do it well,” shared Yawah Nicholson, Director Transplant Quality & Performance Excellence at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Co-Chair of the Standards & Competencies Subcommittee. “So many of us carry different titles for what’s really the same work. This is a chance to see that clearly, across the whole field.”
The survey is aimed at individuals whose primary role, or a significant share of their responsibilities, is dedicated to this kind of work, rather than staff who touch quality activities only incidentally as part of a broader clinical or operational role. Respondents may carry titles like Quality Coordinator, Quality Manager, Quality Specialist, Clinical Data Analyst, Performance Improvement Coordinator, or Regulatory Coordinator, among others.
“What matters is the work,” shared Jasikran Kaur, VP of Audits, Compliance and Patient Safety at Southwest Transplant Alliance, and representative from the National Transplant and Donation Quality Collaborative Steering Committee, “systematically measuring, monitoring, evaluating, and improving the safety, quality, regulatory compliance, and performance of a transplant or organ donation program. That includes quality improvement, performance measurement, regulatory and accreditation readiness, data quality and analysis, patient safety, process improvement, outcomes monitoring, risk management, and organizational learning.”
Responses will be collected through Friday, October 30. As with the Collaborative’s Quality Discussion Boards, participation is limited to individuals directly affiliated with an OPO or transplant center.
Dedicated transplant and donation quality professionals are encouraged to coordinate within their organization so that only one survey is completed for each organization.
