Virginia Henderson's Principles and Practice of Nursing Applied to Organ Donation after Brain Death

Registered nurses were some of the first nonphysician organ transplant and donation specialists in the field, both in procurement and clinical arenas. Nursing theories are abundant in the literature and in nursing curricula, but none have been applied to the donation process. Noted nursing theorist Virginia Henderson (1897–1996), often referred to as the “first lady of nursing,” developed a nursing model based on activities of living. Henderson had the pioneering view that nursing stands separately from medicine and that nursing consists of more than simply following physicians' orders. Henderson's Principles and Practice of Nursing is a grand theory that can be applied to many types of nursing. In this article, Henderson's theory is applied to the intensely focused and specialized area of organ donation for transplantation. Although organ donation coordinators may have backgrounds as physicians' assistants, paramedics, or other allied health professions, most are registered nurses. By virtue of the inherent necessity for involvement of the family and friends of the potential donor, Henderson's concepts are applied to the care and management of the organ donor, to the donor's family and friends, and in some instances, to the caregivers themselves.