Organ and Tissue Donation for Pennsylvania Osteopathic Physicians: System, Process, and Clinical Care - 2.0 AOA Category 1-A credits

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Identify key components of the national and Pennsylvania organ and tissue donation system, including transplantable organs, tissues, vascularized composite allografts, and osteopathic physician responsibilities.

2. Distinguish the major steps in organ and tissue donation from initial referral through surgical recovery, including the respective responsibilities of the osteopathic physician, organ procurement organization, and interprofessional team.

3. Select whole-person, culturally responsive approaches to determination-of-death discussions, family communication, donation-related questions, and end-of-life support.

4. Prioritize physician-directed assessment, management, escalation, and interprofessional communication actions used to preserve organ function during donor management.

Effective May 1, 2026, Pennsylvania osteopathic physicians must complete at least two hours of continuing education in organ and tissue donation and recovery one time within five years of initial licensure or within five years of licensure renewal, whichever occurs first. This activity is designed exclusively for osteopathic physicians and addresses the six required curriculum domains: the organ donation and transplantation system, the tissue donation process, the organ donation process, determining death and family communication, caring for families, and organ donor management. The activity is intended to meet applicable AOA PRA Category 1 or Category 2 standards, subject to provider approval and reporting requirements (Pennsylvania State Board of Osteopathic Medicine, 2026).

Osteopathic physicians may be responsible for recognizing potential-donor referral triggers, confirming timely OPO notification, evaluating prognosis, determining death when authorized and qualified, leading goals-of-care and withdrawal-of-life-sustaining-treatment discussions, directing donor-management orders, addressing clinical or forensic questions, and communicating with families and the interprofessional team. Practice gaps may include uncertainty about referral timing, brain death or death by neurologic criteria, donation after circulatory death, role boundaries, culturally responsive family communication, coroner or medical examiner involvement, and integrated donor-management decisions. This course applies osteopathic principles by considering the person as a unit of body, mind, and spirit; recognizing the reciprocal relationship of structure and function; attending to family, cultural, and spiritual concerns; and coordinating care across the hospital, OPO, and transplant systems.

State requirement: This course is intended to satisfy the two-hour organ and tissue donation and recovery continuing education requirement for Pennsylvania osteopathic physicians, subject to State Board of Osteopathic Medicine approval, applicable AOA PRA standards, reporting requirements, and individual licensee responsibilities (Pennsylvania State Board of Osteopathic Medicine, 2026).