Transplant Program

The data coordinator is an integral part of the transplant team ensuring accurate data collection, data entry, verification and reporting. The data coordinator ensures timely completion of registry forms required by UNOS and other regulatory agencies. Working closely with the clinical staff and physicians, the coordinator ensures integrity of the data for each patient.

A dietician helps the patient meet his/her nutritional needs before and after the transplant. The dietician works closely with you and your family.

Transplant surgeons, diabetes educators, endocrinologists, nurse transplant coordinators, registered dietitians, and pharmacists work together to coordinate comprehensive quality care that is accessible to the patient. The diabetes education team believes that the person with diabetes and their family are the most important members of the diabetes team. Diabetes affects each person differently and we help create individualized treatment programs that accommodate a patient's needs and optimize their health.

Learn more about our Transplant Diabetes Program.

The financial coordinator's work begins at the time of referral, verifying coverage and ensuring all approvals are in place for services. All patients receive a financial packet with personalized benefit information. The financial coordinator helps patients in all aspects of their insurance needs including:

• Counseling
• Assistance with Medicare/Medi-cal application process
• Additional coverage needs
• Coverage changes 

An Independent Donor Advocate (IDA) is responsible for making certain that the rights of a potential organ donor are fully represented. IDAs serve as living donor resources and advocates from the time that a potential living donor contacts the transplant program as well as after donation.

The living donor team provides care coordination and advocacy for the prospective living organ donor. They coordinate the full continuum of the living donor process, obtain a medical history, provide education to the potential donors and their family members, assess the potential donors' needs, and arrange living donor transplants. The team continues providing care and support to donors even after donation.

An advanced practice nurse who, in collaboration with transplant pulmonologists, medically manages/treats transplant patients.

Several other team members will evaluate the patient before transplantation and provide follow-up care, as needed. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Pharmacists
• Anesthesiologists
• Respiratory therapists
• Cardiologists
• Hematologists
• Urologists
• Nephrologists
• Infectious disease specialists
• Lab technicians
• Psychologists

Chaplains who provide spiritual care and support.

A physical therapist helps patients become strong and independent with movement and endurance after the transplantation.

A post-transplant patient care coordinator helps patients obtain services in a timely manner and assures efficient utilization of the nurses and doctors' appointment schedule. A patient care coordinator arranges for medical studies, tracks results, and manages medication refill requests. They inform patients about their appointments, how to prepare for a study, and where to go.

A post-transplant and inpatient coordinator educates and supports patients as they transition and adjust to their new life style after surgery. Coordinators ensure that recipients of an organ transplant are informed about how to best care for themselves after transplantation, are educated about signs and symptoms of infection and rejection, and how to comply with medication regimen prescribed to them. Coordinators educate patients in post-operative management and arrange for follow up appointments.

The pre-transplant coordinator handles the evaluation of pre-transplant patients referred to our program for organ transplantation. The process begins at the time of the initial referral and continues through transplantation.

The pre-transplant coordinator educates patients about the physical and psychosocial implications of a transplant, obtains medical history, informs patients about further consultations/studies required to complete the evaluation process, and lists patients with UNOS when appropriate. Coordinators monitor a patient's health status during the waiting time prior to their transplant surgery.

A pre-transplant patient care coordinator is the first point of contact and processes all incoming referrals. The care coordinator arranges for evaluation appointments with the nurse educators and doctor, medical studies, consultations, and outside services to complete the transplant/donor evaluation process as efficiently as possible. Care coordinators support patients throughout the evaluation process by providing education, instructions, and directing them to resources available.

A pulmonologist specializes in the function and disease of the lungs. Pulmonologists will help manage a patient before and after the surgery.

A social worker provides support to your family and helps your family deal with many issues that may arise including lodging and transportation, finances, and legal issues.

The transplant dietician helps transplant patients and their families learn about a healthful, enjoyable diet to speed recovery after surgery and maintain health throughout life. The dietitian provides education and care to pre- and post-organ transplant patients with diabetes through the Transplant Diabetes Program.

A nurse who organizes all aspects of care provided to a patient before and after the transplant. The nurse coordinator will provide patient education and coordinate the diagnostic testing and follow-up care.

As member of a multidisciplinary team, the transplant pharmacist makes rounds with the transplant team and offer services such as therapeutic drug monitoring and providing drug information about potential side effects and drug interactions. The pharmacist, alongside other transplant team members, helps to counsel kidney and pancreas transplant recipients on their individualized drug regimens.

A transplant social worker is responsible for assessing the psychological, social, and cultural needs that impact transplant recipients/living donors prior to as well as after surgery. The social worker educates patients regarding resources available in the community, helps problem solve at the time of crisis, and assists in seeking therapeutic interventions when needed. The goal of the social worker is to make the transition as smooth as possible for patients.

A transplant surgeon specializes in transplantation and will be performing the surgery. A transplant surgeon coordinates all team members. The surgeon follows a patient before the transplant and continues to follow the patient after the transplant and discharge from the hospital.