Their services range from helping with personal and psychological issues that result from living with a chronic medical condition, to the practical issues of paying for medications, arranging transportation and lodging, joining support groups and receiving vocational rehabilitation. In this way, patients benefit from having the same people available to them 24 hours a day throughout their participation in the program. Our patients tell us that the nurse coordinators, because of the range of their involvement and the depth of their concern, are essential participants in the support network. When a compatible organ becomes available, the transplant patient is immediately contacted by a nurse coordinator and admitted to the hospital. At this time, a history is taken of any medical events that may have occurred since the initial transplant evaluation.
Appropriate testing ensures the patient s readiness for surgery.
At this time, the patient begins taking immunosuppressive medication. Depending on the organ, the surgery lasts approximately three to eight hours. When the surgery is completed, the patient is taken to the recovery room, and then over the subsequent days to a step-down unit. Careful, comprehensive post-surgical monitoring constantly evaluates whether the body is accepting the new organ. The length of stay in the hospital is determined by a number of factors, including overall health of the patient before surgery and, of course, the organ transplanted.