Liu Yuan, Beijing Organ Donation Coordinator
Coordinating more than 310 cases in 6 years, as a ferryman of life
Many years later, Liu Yuan could still remember clearly that he coordinated the organ donation scene of a 15-year-old boy.
Because of the brain glioma, the boy had undergone several operations, but the results were not satisfactory. He had already suffered brain death.
Before going to see his family, Liu Yuan was very nervous. He thought about how to persuade and how to escape in a conflict.
But when the child's father stood in front of him, Liu Yuan still couldn't speak.
When it was time for dinner, the two came to a shabu-shabu restaurant and asked for a bottle of Erguotou.
After a few glasses of wine, the father's eyes were red.
"I know what you have to say, I have no objection." The father finally made a decision. The boy donated his heart, liver, kidneys, lungs and cornea, saving 5 lives.
As an organ donation coordinator of Beijing You'an Hospital, Liu Yuan travels around every day to find potential organ donors and preach to his family about the organ donation policy.
But people's perceptions are constantly changing.
In the past, Liu Yuan's success rate was not high. Now, 10 coordinations can succeed 5 times.
In the past six years, he has successfully coordinated more than 310 organ donations, and he has also signed an organ donation volunteer letter.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of my country's organ donation work.
The cumulative number of volunteer registrations for organ donation across the country has reached 2.51 million, and more than 30,000 people have completed organ donations after the death of citizens.
However, according to statistics, there are about 300,000 patients waiting for transplantation due to end-stage organ failure each year, and the gap is still large.
This makes Liu Yuan firmer in his belief in this job.
"It saves patients who need organs. Although I don't know them, it makes sense."
Looking for potential organ donors
At 17:00 on October 30, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University.
An organ harvesting operation that took an hour and a half has just ended.
According to the matching results of the previous computer system, the two kidneys and one liver taken out will be transplanted into three patients respectively.
From the operating room, besides the doctor, there was also Liu Yuan, the organ donation coordinator.
Before 2014, Liu Yuan was a hepatobiliary surgeon.
He has seen many critically ill patients waiting eagerly for organ transplants to save their lives, but in the end he couldn't look forward to an opportunity.
In November of that year, Liu Yuan put down the scalpel he had taken for 11 years and became an organ donation coordinator at Beijing You'an Hospital.
This is a new profession, and one of its important responsibilities is to find potential organ donors.
But the way to find organs is not easy.
Since 2015, voluntary donations from citizens have been the only legal source, but ordinary people have hardly heard of it, and even many medical staff do not understand it.
"When patients are in this state, their family members are often very sad. Whoever talks to them about this kind of thing is worse than less." In order to avoid conflicts between doctors and patients, doctors are often very resistant.
Liu Yuan decided to let the medical staff change their minds first and let them participate.
The requirements of the regulations for organ donors are: reaching a state of brain death or dying, but the organ function is relatively intact.
Such patients are often in the intensive care unit of various hospitals.
On the first day he became an organ donation coordinator, Liu Yuan ran to several hospitals and met the doctors and directors of the intensive care unit.
He told the medical staff to stand in the perspective of the family when offering organ donation with his family.
"Organ donation adds a choice for critically ill patients. It is a kind of sublimation and continuation of life for patients. It is meaningful and caring for society, and it can also save more patients' lives." Say.
Provide some potential cases through the doctor, and make some pre-communication.
If the family members do not reject it, Liu Yuan and other members of the team will go to communicate further with the family members.
In this way, family members have a certain degree of psychological preparation, and the coordination success rate will be higher.
Communication with family members is an important part
"Organ donation is voluntary. My purpose is only to explain to you the organ donation policies and procedures, your rights and obligations. In the end, whether you agree or disagree, it is a rational decision made by your whole family. We are Respectful." For six years, Liu Yuan would repeat this sentence every time he saw the patient's family.
Communication with family members is also the most central and important link in the entire organ donation coordination process.
"Doing this job tests communication skills and requires certain social experience and experience." Liu Yuan's family members come from all walks of life. "There are different ways of communicating with different people. We must find a psychological commonality with each other. Topic and purpose." The bookcase in Liu Yuan's office is full of books on communication and psychology, and he often turns through it.
In his opinion, the first meeting with family members is very important. "If the initial communication is unsuccessful, there may be no chance to communicate again." In order to win the trust of family members, Liu Yuan must always pay attention to the communication process. "Pay attention to creating a sense of intimacy in your own conversation and behavior."
He still remembers the first potential case he took over.
In 2014, a 15-year-old boy from a single parent family underwent several operations for glioma, but the results were not satisfactory. The child had already suffered brain death.
Before going to see his family, Liu Yuan was very upset.
At that time, the country did not have a unified donation process and legal framework, and Liu Yuan crossed the river by feeling the stones.
He was afraid of accidents, and even how to evacuate if there was a conflict, he thought about it in his mind.
"I want to sit outside, close to the door, so that it will be easier to run if there is a conflict." Liu Yuan said.
Various difficulties test the organ donation coordinator's resistance to setbacks. Many people can't do it for half a year or a year.
Liu Yuan clenched his teeth and persisted. He would give himself some psychological hints, "You can't be sensitive, if you want to open it, the left ear goes in and the right ear goes out."
Compared with success, Liu Yuan encountered too many failures.
He had rushed to a small village in the suburbs overnight, and it was already ten o'clock in the evening when he arrived.
There was no light in the remote village, and a few tall and burly family members of the patient appeared in front of him and invited him into the house.
Liu Yuan chatted with his family tremblingly for several hours, but failed to persuade each other.
Some organ donations were suspended because the donor’s condition improved.
In order to save the organs, after the donors are transferred to Beijing You'an Hospital, doctors will conduct treatments regardless of cost. “Every year, one or two patients show signs of improvement and no longer meet the requirements for organ donation.” The "failure case" gave Liu Yuan a sense of accomplishment, "Although he didn't donate, he saved a person."
Strive to fill the gap in organ demand
Liu Yuan has a schoolbag, which contains the medicine he usually takes, disposable toothbrushes, water cups, etc., "If there are potential cases at any time, carry the bag and leave at any time."
His most relaxing moment is at twelve o'clock at night, when his wife and two sons are asleep, and he likes to lie on the sofa and watch TV for a while.
Those on the go, most enjoy the peace and happiness of a small family in the quiet night.
"After experiencing the joys and sorrows of so many families, I will cherish the family extraordinarily." The youngest organ donor Liu Yuan encountered was only 7 years old.
When communicating with the children's parents, Liu Yuan kept crying, "I also have two sons. After having children, I feel that the children really can't have an accident, and we can't afford it as parents."
Now, Liu Yuan is a year old, and he has also experienced the pain of life and death.
In 2016, his grandma passed away; last year, his cousin passed away.
When communicating with the patient’s family, Liu Yuan felt the same.
The passing of personal life is the pain of the whole family, and the fate of the whole family may be changed as a result.
After working on this job for a long time, the small temper when I was young and vigorous, the small ailments of competing with my family and self-willedness are all gone.
He realized more and more that a person's life is not his own, but a family's.
"Take care of your family and protect your health. As long as you make contributions to your family and society, you will not leave regrets until the day you die."
Liu Yuan, who is accustomed to life and death, feels that death is a natural law and reincarnation. He is more concerned about whether there is value and meaning in death.
At the beginning of this job, Liu Yuan also signed a volunteer letter for organ donation.
Like Liu Yuan, the number of people who register actively and are willing to donate organs after death has also begun to increase.
In the past few years, Liu Yuan has clearly felt the changes in people's thinking, especially in Beijing.
In the past, Liu Yuan's success rate was not high. There were two or three successful cases out of ten. Now, five out of ten coordinations are successful.
In early November, in the organ donation management office on the east side of Beijing You'an Hospital, another patient's family opened the door and sat down with Liu Yuan face to face.
Liu Yuan listened patiently to his family's concerns. He and his team, as well as organ donation coordinators across the country, are working hard to fill the gap in China's organ transplant demand.
They are the intermediary between death and life and the ferryman of life.
New Beijing News trainee reporter Peng Chong