Nurses Remain Essential to Successful Organ Transplants

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. - Oct. 20, 2026 – Organ transplantation is entering an era defined by precision medicine, technological innovations and increasingly complex patient populations. This evolution reinforces the vital role for critical care nurses and advanced practice nurses (APRNs) throughout the continuum of care for donors, candidates awaiting transplantation, recipients and their respective families.

A symposium of articles published in two issues of AACN Advanced Critical Care illustrates how organ transplantation has evolved from an experimental surgical endeavor into a complex, multidisciplinary system of care, with nurses providing crucial care at every step.

Bernice Coleman, PhD, ACNP-BC, FAHA, FAAN, and Linda Ohler, MSN, CNS, CCTC, FAAN, FAST, ISHLTF, served as co-editors of the two-part symposium, titled “Critical Care Nurses in Organ Donation and Transplantation.” Ohler is editor emeritus, Progress in Transplantation and has co-authored and edited several books for nurses on transplantation. Coleman works at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, where she is director, Nursing Research and Quality Improvement; research scientist III nurse practitioner, Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Programs; and assistant professor, Biomedical Sciences and Medicine. They discuss key takeaways from the symposium in video interviews.

“Transplant success is not driven by a single intervention, technology or clinician. Rather, it results from a coordinated system of care in which nursing is integral at every stage,” Ohler said.

Across the continuum of care from donor identification and management to transplantation and long-term recovery, nurses serve as a constant presence, integrating clinical judgment, vigilance, coordination and patient advocacy in environments where conditions evolve rapidly and the consequences of errors are significant.

“Critical care nurses and advanced practice nurses have become more essential to successful organ transplants,” Coleman said. “Before receiving a transplant, patients are living longer with serious health issues and require ongoing care. Afterward, they navigate through new challenges on their way to long-term recovery. Nurses are at their side at every step of this journey.”

In the summer issue of AACN Advanced Critical Care, the first half of the symposium highlights the clinical expertise, leadership and interprofessional collaboration that define contemporary transplant and organ donation nursing practice. The articles in the fall issue reflect both the complexity of transplant science and the essential role of nurses in translating that science into practice.

Together, the articles in the series examine the broader evolution of transplant nursing. Articles in the symposium are:

• Road Map of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in the Early Post–Lung Transplant Period
• Enhancing Nurse Practitioner–Registered Nurse Collaboration Through Leadership-Driven Strategies
• Optimizing Organ Donation Outcomes in the ICU: An Evidence-Based Practice Quality Improvement Initiative
• Organ Donation Support Team: The Nurse Practitioner’s Role
• Clinical Immunology for Heart Transplant Nurses: Medication Decision-Making
• Infection in Solid Organ Transplant: Prevention, Risk, and Treatment Strategies
• Partial Heart Transplantation: A Review for Critical Care and Advanced Practice Nurses
• A Comprehensive Look Into a Hospital-Based Donor Care Unit
• Role of the Nurse Practitioner in Caring for Heart Transplant Patients: From Hospitalization Through Reintegration Into the Community

AACN Advanced Critical Care is a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication with in-depth articles intended for experienced critical care and acute care clinicians at the bedside, advanced practice nurses, and clinical and academic educators. Each issue also includes a topic-based symposium, feature articles and columns of interest to critical care and progressive care clinicians.

Access the issue by visiting the AACN Advanced Critical Care website at http://acc.aacnjournals.org.

About AACN Advanced Critical Care: AACN Advanced Critical Care is a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication with in-depth articles intended for experienced critical care and acute care clinicians at the bedside, advanced practice nurses and clinical and academic educators. An official publication of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the journal has a circulation of more than 136,000 and can be accessed at http://acc.aacnjournals.org.

About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 55 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, with more than 136,000 members and about 170 chapters in the United States.

American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org