Position Summary / Career Interest:

The Organ Transplant Nurse Coordinator plans, directs, and provides specialized nursing care with the primary emphasis on the treatment of individuals with end stage organ disease that are designated to have a solid organ transplant. Provides continuity and coordination of patient care; conducts patient and professional education initiatives; collaborative relationship with multidisciplinary teams, community resources and agencies.


Responsibilities and Essential Job Functions

• Demonstrate knowledge and ability to facilitate living donation/transplantation, and will utilize that knowledge to coordinate the care of the living donor for evaluation and live organ donation. Identifies appropriate live donor candidate upon referral, and interacts with appropriate staff.
• Demonstrates knowledge and ability to coordinate the care of the transplant recipient in the outpatient setting to achieve optimal physical, social and emotional rehabilitation. Identifies and responds to recipient/family/legal guardian’s educational, psychosocial and economic needs in post-transplant phase.
• Reinforces post-operative teaching.
• Collects and reviews data pertinent to recipient’s health and organ function.
• Communicates lab data and diagnostic results to transplant physician/health care provider. Implements changes in drug/treatment therapy as ordered by physician(s) and/or health care provider. Arranges for consultations, diagnostic procedures and hospitalization when indicated. Reinforces and facilitates need for well care (i.e., periodic mammography, pap smears and colonoscopy).
• Ensures recipient is screened annually for malignancy. Assesses recipient’s need for immunizations.
• Demonstrates knowledge and the ability to monitor and coordinate care of the candidate awaiting organ transplantation.
• Develops and institutes a teaching plan addressing transplant candidate/family/legal guardian’s learning needs.
• Maintains/ensures communication with patient, referring physicians, payers, other health care providers and transplant team members.
• Ensures cytotoxic antibody screen is obtained regularly per transplant center protocol.
• Maintains routine health maintenance and surveillance for malignancy during the waiting period.
• Exhibits ability to maintain and update candidate-listing status per OPTN/UNOS regulations.
• Identifies the need for candidate re-evaluation and initiates when appropriate.
• Provides and maintains comprehensive documentation of candidate progress.
• Demonstrates proficiency and continual growth in the knowledge of transplantation.
• Reviews and integrates into practice the current professional literature in the field of transplant.
• Attends practice-related conferences.
• Participates in professional transplant/procurement organizations.
• Examines current transplant-related research.
• Shares knowledge through mentoring/precepting newly hired staff.
• Demonstrates understanding and the ability to assume responsibility for individual judgments to achieve the highest quality of care for the transplant candidate, recipient, family and living donor.
• Demonstrates understanding and ability to facilitate/coordinate evaluation and OPTN/UNOS listing of potential transplant candidate.
• Identifies appropriate candidate upon referral, and interacts with appropriate staff.
• Identifies requirements for candidate evaluation.
• Coordinates with multidisciplinary team the evaluation process for potential transplant candidate.
• Demonstrates understanding of post-transplant management including medications, complications, interventions and discharge planning in the coordination of recipient care.
• Demonstrates the ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary team.
• Monitors patient progress post-transplant.
• Identifies complications and considers interventions with the transplant team.
• Communicates recipient’s status to referring physician, health care providers and payers.
• Identifies and responds to the educational, psychosocial and economic needs of recipient/family/legal guardian during hospitalization. Educates recipient/family/legal guardian regarding care and responsibilities after transplantation.
• Educates candidate/family/legal guardian about living donation options, evaluation process, OPTN regulations, organ allocation, waiting phase, transplant process, risks/benefits, including utilization of expanded donors, high-risk donors, if applicable, post-operative phase including immunosuppressive therapy and effects, potential research protocols of the transplant program, candidate/family/legal guardian responsibility throughout the transplant process.
• Exhibits knowledge and ability to facilitate transplant process when organ becomes available to transplant candidate.
• This includes defining and adhering to the current OPTN/UNOS regulations and allocation policies.
• Communicates with the OPO and collects the appropriate data necessary for decision-making regarding organ acceptance/rejection for transplant.
• Shares necessary information about the donor organ, including ABO compatibility, with the transplant surgeon/physician.
• Reviews potential recipient’s current medical status to determine eligibility for transplant.
• Assesses need for and obtains results of final cytotoxic cross match.
• Facilitates admission or transfer of patient to the transplant.
• Arranges any preoperative procedures required (i.e., dialysis).
• Notifies transplant team of pending surgical procedure.
• Acts as a liaison between the donor and recipient transplant teams.
• Exhibits ability to remove transplant recipient from list per OPTN/UNOS regulations.
• Provides outcome specifics to OPO for donor family follow-up.
• Maintains communication with referring physician, health care providers and payers.
• Identifies and responds to the psychosocial and economic needs of the transplant candidate/family/legal guardian during evaluation.
• Demonstrates knowledge of, and compliance with, OPTN/UNOS policies and listing requirements.
• Informs and educates patient/family/legal guardian at time of listing.
• Ensures patient and referring physician are informed in writing of transplant listing, denial or postponement.
• Provides and maintains comprehensive documentation of evaluation process and makes appropriate referrals to specialists.
• Interprets serological results of the potential transplant candidate and their implications for transplant.
• Obtains recipient blood type, tissue typing and cytotoxic antibodies according to transplant center protocol.
• Identifies possible co-morbidities in the transplant candidate and evaluates as indicated.
• Identifies absolute and relative contraindications to transplantation.
• Ensures patient understands risk and benefit of immunizations required prior to transplantation.
• Must be able to perform the professional, clinical and or technical competencies of the assigned unit or department.
• These statements are intended to describe the essential functions of the job and are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities. Skills and duties may vary dependent upon your department or unit. Other duties may be assigned as required.

Required Education and Experience

• High School Graduate
• Associate Degree Nursing Must complete Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing within five years of hire/transfer
• 2 or more years acute clinical experience

Preferred Education and Experience

• Bachelor Degree Nursing

Required Licensure and Certification

• Basic Life Support Heartsaver (BLS HS) (Non-Clinical) - American Heart Association (AHA) within 14 days
• Licensed Registered Nurse (LRN) - Single State - State Board of Nursing Registered Nurse in State of Kansas
• Must have current active multistate state Register Nurse (RN) license in good standing in state in which you live OR active single state RN license in good standing in the state you will be working with proof of application of a multistate RN license in the state in which you live. Staff hired prior to 2/1/2024 are required to obtain a multistate state RN license from the state in which they live at the time of their next RN license renewal by 3/31/2026.

We are an equal employment opportunity employer without regard to a person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and sexual orientation), national origin, ancestry, age (40 or older), disability, veteran status or genetic information.