Research ChallengeCurrent Grants

Exploring the Inpatient Postoperative Experiences of Living Kidney Donors at St. Paul’s Hospital

Kidney transplantation is a lifesaving and life-changing treatment for people living with end stage kidney disease (ESKD). Living kidney donors are people who voluntarily undergo surgery to donate one kidney to a person living with ESKD. There are a limited number of kidney donations from deceased organ donors, so living kidney donors play an important role in helping people access transplantation.

This project seeks to uncover more about living kidney donors’ experiences at St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH) in Vancouver B.C. while they are recovering from surgery. The team will use surveys and in-depth interviews to collect data about donors’ experiences which will provide insight into the postoperative period and help inform clinical care practices.

The team will explore the following key questions:

1. What are the experiences of living kidney donors at SPH during the inpatient postoperative
period?
2. How does the experience of being a kidney donor at SPH influence living kidney donors’
perceptions of kidney donation?

Primary Investigator: Florence Tsai

Co-investigators: Florence Tsai, Juna Kim, Alisa Sirois, and Reema Kandola.

Patient Partner: Reema Kandola