Periodically the Division of Transplantation (DoT) emails a bulletin sharing information about research projects funded through DoT. Find past bulletins below and sign up to receive future bulletins. We hope you’ll share these with your organ donation or research colleagues.
Pairing is caring: Empowering patients with early, consistent kidney paired donation (KPD) education
The November 2024 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 526 KB) shares the benefits of routine kidney paired donation education and the use of educational videos to improve understanding among patients in need of transplant.
Focus on Veterans: Increasing support for organ donation and vascularized composite allograft (VCA) transplants among men over 50
The May 2024 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 531 KB) explores research on effective messaging about organ donation and vascularized composite allograft (VCA) transplant for Veterans, with the goal of increasing donor registration rates.
Building Trust: Connecting with Muslim American Communities About Organ Donation
The March 2023 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 600 KB) offers research-based recommendations for bridging the organ donation educational gap in Muslim American communities. Learn how to tailor messaging effectively and build relationships that improve rates of donor designation.
Promotores de donación: How can community partners help educate older Hispanics about organ donation?
The June 2022 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 383 KB) shares research about an e-learning module that trains community health workers to discuss organ donation and registration with Hispanic donors. Leer el Grant Bulletin en español. (PDF - 373 KB)
License to save lives: How can a game-based driver education curriculum lead to organ donor sign-ups?
The March 2022 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 338 KB) introduces research on a driver education game that raises awareness about organ, eye, and tissue donation, while also disproving common myths.
Messaging matters: How can you register more donors with simple and persuasive phrasing?
The January 2022 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 460 KB) confirms that DMVs remain an important venue for registering new organ, eye, and tissue donors. Research shows that the key to success is using simple phrasing in messaging and materials.
How can primary care offices encourage organ donation?
The second August 2021 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 305 KB) explores primary care offices in Pennsylvania used their electronic medical record and tailored messaging for older Americans to boost organ donation in their area.
How do potential donors get financial assistance for donation costs?
The first August 2021 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 212 KB) explores how the National Living Donor Assistance Center’s grant program reimburses travel and subsistence expenses, lost wages, and dependent care expenses to potential living organ donors.
How can you educate chronic kidney disease patients about their transplant options?
This July 2021 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 425 KB) compared different ways to educate chronic kidney disease patients about CKD and their treatment options. One of these education tactics helped make patients twice as likely to make informed decisions about living donation!
Simulation Centers Provide Opportunity for Hands-On Training
Twenty years after a HRSA-funded study proved the value of providing experiential or hands-on training to hospital and donation organization staff, simulated learning has become standard practice at organ procurement organizations. Read this July 2020 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 438 KB) to learn more about the 1999 HRSA grant and how training has evolved to include sophisticated simulation centers.
Is there a registration equation?
The February 2020 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 119 KB) shares the results of a series of HRSA-funded projects that showed four factors that, when presented simultaneously, increased donor registration rates.
How can we improve communication with family decision makers?
The November 2019 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 210 KB) highlights two projects that sought to improve requesters’ confidence and efficacy during conversations with family members deciding whether to donate a loved one’s organs.
How can we steer teens toward donor registries?
The July 2019 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 345 KB) highlights a project that found that teens who watched videos of their peers discussing organ donation during a driver’s education course were more likely to sign up as organ, eye, and tissue donors than those not exposed to videos.
Is direct mail still an effective way to register new donors?
Read the February 2019 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 283 KB) to learn strategies for creating postal mail campaigns to prompt new donor designations. The 15 direct mail campaigns summarized added more than 10,800 organ, eye, and tissue donors to state registries.
How can we implement donor registration in primary care settings?
The November 2018 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 275 KB) demonstrates ways for primary care providers and staff to educate patients about organ, eye, and tissue donation and encourage them to sign up as donors. The two projects highlighted added nearly 1,000 donor designations to state registries.
How can we increase donor registration rates among Black adults?
Read the July 2018 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 956 KB) to learn about research projects that brought organ and tissue donation education to Black communities in their fraternities, sororities, and churches. These projects added 505 new registrations to the Michigan Organ Donor Registry.
How can we bridge barriers in kidney transplant education?
The April 2018 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 723 KB) highlights two projects that looked at ways to make transplant education more accessible to low-income and Hispanic/Latino individuals.
Need to educate ESRD patients about their transplant options?
The January 2018 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 193 KB) highlights two grant projects that found that tailoring living donor kidney transplant education to patients’ readiness to pursue living and deceased donation can result in more knowledgeable patients who are more willing to take steps toward transplantation. This is the first in a two-part series exploring tactics for educating patients about living donor kidney transplant.
Organ Donation Online: How Can Social Media Be Used to Create Donor Registrations?
The September 2017 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 440 KB) is the second in a two-part series highlighting strategies that increased donor registrations among college students. The projects in this newsletter focused on creating a new social media campaign and adding a social media component to an existing campaign. Combined, they added more than 11,000 new registrations.
Schooling their peers: Can students encourage others on campus to register?
The June 2017 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 323 KB) summarizes the outcome of three grant projects focused on college students in New York State. The projects added more than 5,000 donor registrations to the New York registry and found effective ways to increase registrations among 18- to 24-year-olds.
What are the most effective DMV outreach tactics?
The March 2017 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 451 KB) provides details of two research projects focused on tactics to increase donor registrations at DMVs. The New York and Michigan projects evaluated the effectiveness of point-of-decision materials, donor registration volunteers at DMVs, DMV staff training, and mandating that DMV staff ask the donor registration question to every customer.
Want to Drive Donation Decisions at DMVs?
Read the January 2017 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 497 KB), the first in a two-part series exploring projects that tested ways to increase the rates at which people register at the DMV. Part 1 features projects in Florida and West Virginia that increased registration rates, added 9,600 additional donor registrations to state registries, and identified strategies that work at the DMV.
Looking for effective ways to reach the 50+ crowd?
Read the November 2016 Grant Bulletin (PDF - 564 KB) to learn the results of three grant projects that tested ways to encourage adults ages 50 and older to register as organ, eye, and tissue donors. The projects summarized in this bulletin added 4,501 donor registrations to state registries.