“What is essential is invisible to the eye”

Abstract

Abstract Organ donation and transplantation (ODT) is a complex multi-professional clinical procedure. Healthcare professionals’ attitudes and concerns towards the procedure influence the entire process. A 3-hour interview with ODT staff (13 participants) was performed in order to explore ODT professionals’ spiritual attitudes and concerns. The interview was recorded and transcribed verbatim. All (sub)themes were directly derived from the data. The discussants expressed the following issues: (1) ethical considerations and barriers in ODT; (2) individual beliefs about death and afterlife; (3) dealings with patients, relatives and close ones; (4) lack of support for ODT staff; and (5) spiritual facilitators. The interview provided a list of themes that either explicitly or implicitly demonstrate spiritual attitudes and concerns which may influence procedures in ODT. The themes and subthemes formed the basis to design a questionnaire in order to initiate a more detailed investigation of a larger group of professionals.