Before, During, and After Living Donation: Caregiver Responsibilities

Before making a donation, you must commit to caregiver responsibilities. 

Many donors feel anxious during the donor evaluation and after surgery is scheduled. As a caregiver, you must:

• Pay careful attention to the donor’s emotional health
• Give appropriate support and reassurance
• Encourage them to talk to the transplant team if they have doubts about donation. (They can decide not to donate any time before surgery)

Ask the transplant center how long you and the patient must stay close to the center after surgery. Help the donor plan, especially if they don’t live close to the center. 

• Do you and the donor need to fly or rent a car? 
• Will you and the donor need a hotel or other lodging (near the center)?  

During donation hospital stay, stay close and be available to help.

• Ask the transplant center how close to the hospital you must be
• Participate in discharge education with the Living Donor Coordinator and Unit Nurse  
• Take notes during discharge teaching sessions
• Pick up medications for the donor before they are discharged from the hospital
• Tell the transplant team which pharmacy they should use for prescriptions
• Confirm travel and lodging plans before the donor is discharged
• Tell the transplant team where you and the donor will be staying and how you will travel to follow-up clinic appointments

After donation, when the donor is recovering at home, you will:

• Help with simple wound management
• Manage their medications (pain medication and stool softener to prevent constipation)
• Take them to follow-up clinic visits. (If they go to their primary care physician (PCP) instead of the transplant center, the transplant team will communicate with the PCP
  • 1-2 weeks after hospital discharge
  • 6 months after discharge
  • 1-year follow-up
  • 2-year follow-up
• Take over household chores and meal preparation. Remember to ask (or hire) other people to help you
• Pay close attention to the donor’s health
• Call the transplant team if the donor is sick
• Provide emotional support