In early 2021, United Network for Organ Sharing will release an upgraded DonorNet MobileSM to the transplant hospital community. Originally released in 2007, UNOS created DonorNet Mobile for transplant hospital users to evaluate and respond to deceased donor organ offers from a mobile device. The new mobile-friendly website will provide additional functionality and an enhanced user experience.
The new DonorNet Mobile is built on a modern application framework that will be easier to rapidly develop and update than the existing version. Its development represents a paradigm shift in how UNOS works with the organ donation and transplant community, involving members of the community in the development process so that UNOS can build better, more user-friendly products that will contribute to matching more organs with transplant candidates and saving more lives.
“UNOS is changing the paradigm of how we work with the transplant community,” said service owner Lloyd Board. “The community has been involved every step of the way in developing the new DonorNet Mobile.”
Recently, Board answered a few questions about the upgrades to DonorNet Mobile and provided a glimpse of what to expect.
How does the new DonorNet Mobile improve upon the previous iteration?
The new DonorNet Mobile is an improved mobile-friendly website for transplant hospitals that allows those users to view and respond to organ offers on a mobile device differently than they currently do. It is built with organ procurement organization and transplant hospital users in mind, combining the donor management, offer evaluation and response functionality into a single mobile-friendly website so that all users have a consistent experience on their devices. Additionally, a key enhancement in the new DonorNet Mobile is the ability to access donor attachments in a mobile context.
When will transplant hospital professionals be able to use the new DonorNet Mobile?
Transplant hospital users can expect the new DonorNet Mobile to be available by early 2021.
We released a pilot for organ procurement organization users in 2017, which provided high-level donor management features such as a second verification of blood type and the ability to upload secure images from a smart phone. We piloted that version through 2017 with select organ procurement organizations, and in 2018 we released it to all organ procurement organizations across the country.
Since then, we’ve been adding features quarterly to expand the information available about the donor from the mobile perspective. This summer we will begin piloting a beta version of the new mobile-friendly website with a small group of transplant hospital users who will use it to evaluate and respond to organ offers. During the pilot we will gather additional information about workflows and features in the new DonorNet Mobile and make adjustments as we prepare for a national rollout.
What features did the team focused on updating?
One of the most important things that the community wanted was a view of the complete donor record, including donor attachments uploaded by organ procurement organization users. To provide this, we had to consider how to make key data points easily discoverable. We designed the new DonorNet Mobile to be easy to navigate so that users can quickly find the data they need to evaluate in order to make informed organ acceptance decisions.
Another priority was to help facilitate more efficient conversations between organ procurement organization and transplant hospital users. With that in mind, the new DonorNet Mobile presents the donor data in the same way to both types of users.
One of the biggest challenges we faced was how best to show a match run, which potentially includes thousands of candidates, on a mobile phone. To address this, with transplant hospital users input, we developed a new match summary report that enables a user to see a candidate’s relative rank on a match run as other hospitals above them are responding to the offer.
How did UNOS involve the community in the development process?
As we developed the new features we put the community at the forefront of every decision we made, and we gave users the opportunity to steer design of the new DonorNet Mobile. Not only did the ideas come from the community, but the design, the way it looks and feels, and how it fits into the user’s everyday jobs has been at the forefront of those conversations.
Last year we established a group of almost 50 users from 17 transplant programs and third party transplant coordinators from across the country who provided regular feedback during the design and development phase. That group of users will start piloting the new DonorNet Mobile in the summer of 2020 before we roll it out nationally.
What other feedback from community members made its way into the final version?
One of the very important pieces of feedback we got from the working group was about how donor medical data is presented and the impact that could have during the offer evaluation process. Transplant hospital members wanted to see how specific donor lab values trended over time. We worked with them in developing a way of displaying that information in a concise, but readable format on a mobile device. The new display provides the transplant surgeon with a clear picture of what has been happening as the case progressed.
What would you say to members who are considering getting involved with DonorNet Mobile development?
I would encourage any member of the organ donation and transplantation community who wants to commit to helping us with future developments to contact us by emailing [email protected]. By participating in the development process, members are more likely to see the features that they care about make their way into the final product.
DonorNet Mobile is a great example of how projects are being developed in partnership with the community. We are looking for more opportunities to collaborate with members so that we can build better software and develop solutions that better serve the transplant community.
As a community, our goal is to provide a lifesaving transplant for everyone in need. DonorNet Mobile plays a pivotal role in that. Having 24/7 mobile access to offer and donor data that is displayed in a clear, readable format allows for timely, efficient organ offer and placement activities.
Interested in getting involved with future technology developments at UNOS? Contact UNOS Customer Service at 800-978-4334 or email [email protected] to learn more about how to get involved.
