Abstract

The possibility of providing aid to individuals through the process of organ donation, so that they may continue living, is an initiative based on altruism and solidarity. The aim of this study is to describe the factors that intervene in the communication of the health care provider with the parents of brain dead children. We have selected papers and information from Web of Science, CINAHL, Science Direct (Elsevier), and PUBMED databases from 2000 to 2013. The principal findings of this study are that brain dead in children has a tough impact on healthcare service teams, cultural and religious aspects of the parents are factors that intervene in the decision making process, and probably the process donation is guided by a sense of solidarity with another in suffering and altruism, parents of children that are waiting for organs are also in a situation of great worry, because the death of their child may occur soon if they do not secure access to an organ which are the underlying constituent emotions and motors of the donor process.

Key words: Organ donor, paediatric intensive care units, decision-making process, communication barriers.