The third day of training for Transplant Coordinators conducted by Mohan Foundation focused on Brain Death and Counseling. Mrs. Chandini Srinivasan, Masters in Counseling and Consultant took the morning session. After the introduction Mrs Chandini dived into Psychology and the importance of the love, care that is generally received as children between the ages of 2 and 6 years. 90% of brain development takes place in this period and hence adequate care must be given at this stage of the child. It impacts our attitude, personality for the rest of our lives.
The spealer then taught the trainees about the various stages of Counseling which started with the patient refusing to accept that he/she had a problem. Counseling should be done only when the patient opens up. Ethics of Counseling was taught with emphasis on boundaries between Counselor and Counselee.
Dr B.S Subrahmanyam, an Anesthesiologist and Consultant at Kamineni Hospital conducted the next session. He took the trainees over the ten steps in the process of brain death donor. It started with Donor Detection, Donor referral to Organ harvesting, sharing of organs and Transplantation. He also taught the nuances of when to broach the topic of organ donation with the family of the patient. ‘Always initiate topic of donation with cornea donation’, ‘Anonymity is very important in organ donation’ advised Dr Subrahmanyam. He also went over some medical facts regarding temperature, blood pressure of brain dead patient to be maintained in order to safeguard the organs.