Thank you for the opportunity to submit an online opinion on this topic.  I currently serve as president of two West Virginia hospitals (Hampshire Memorial Hospital in Romney WV served by CORE) and War Memorial Hospital in Berkeley Springs WV served by LifeNet Health).  Our parent organization is Valley Health headquartered in WInchester Virgina.

Previously in my career I worked fulltime for fourteen years in the fields of donation and transplantation.  I have provided several hundred educational programs on this topic in nursing schools, hospital settings, public arenas and through the media.  As a registered nurse for the past 27 years with a masters degree in education, I can attest to the critical need for consistent and accurate information to be transmitted to student nurses.  As one of the most the critical links between patients, families, care providers and directors, support agents and procurement agencies - nurses must possess skills that are enhanced with information in order to facilitate informed decision discussions.  Starting that knowledge base at the training level creates a lens through which maturing nurses will view their practices for years to come.

I firmly and wholly support a standardized curriculum content for organ, tissue and eye donation to be included in the training of student nurses and submit that the content be created with the coordinated effort of the procurement agencies serving the Commonwealth.

Thank you for this opportunity to comment and for the even larger opportunity for student nurses to hear about this topic during their training.  The impact of discussions on this topic crosses so many disciplines (critical care management, psycho-social resource engagement, emotional assessment and support, public health considerations, faith-based issues and more) that the benefits of implementing this education will be amazing for the students and comforting to families who are face with hard choices during vulnerable times with nurses standing at their sides who are armed with perspectives that were gained through education with consequence.

Neil R McLaughlin, RN, BS, MEd, MBA - President, War Memorial Hospital and Hampshire Memorial Hospital