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Advances in organ transplantation are changing the responsibilities of critical care nurses and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), who are caring for patients with increasingly complex medical needs before and after surgery.
From managing life-support technologies to preventing infections and coordinating long-term recovery, nurses must navigate sophisticated treatments as transplant medicine evolves.
A two-part symposium published in AACN Advanced Critical Care examines how these developments are reshaping transplant nursing and the clinical expertise needed to support organ donors and transplant recipients.
The nine-article collection, published in the journal’s summer and fall 2026 issues, explores emerging transplant procedures, organ donation practices and specialized nursing responsibilities.
“Critical care nurses and advanced practice nurses have become more essential to successful organ transplants,” said Bernice Coleman, PhD, ACNP-BC, FAHA, FAAN, one of the symposium’s co-editors.
“Before receiving a transplant, patients are living longer with serious health issues and require ongoing care. Afterward, they navigate through new challenges on their way to long-term recovery. Nurses are at their side at every step of this journey.”
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New Transplant Technologies Demand Specialized Nursing Expertise
As transplant medicine advances, nurses must understand increasingly sophisticated treatments and recognize complications that can arise during recovery.
The symposium examines several developments affecting transplant care, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) following lung transplantation, partial heart transplantation, and clinical immunology in heart transplant recipients.
ECMO, a temporary life-support therapy that supports heart and lung function, is an area that requires specialized nursing knowledge. One article examines its use during the early postoperative period following lung transplantation.
Another explores partial heart transplantation from the perspective of critical care nurses and APRNs, highlighting an emerging procedure that introduces new considerations for patient management.
The collection also addresses medication decision-making in heart transplantation and strategies to prevent and treat infections in solid organ transplant recipients.
Together, these topics show the specialized knowledge nurses need to monitor patients, recognize complications, and support clinical decisions.
Critical Care Nurses Help Shape Organ Donation Outcomes
Nursing responsibilities in transplantation begin well before a patient receives an organ.
In intensive care units, nurses help manage potential organ donors, coordinate care, and support the clinical processes involved in organ donation.
Several symposium articles examine evidence-based approaches to improving organ donation outcomes, including the role of nurse practitioners on organ donation support teams and the operation of hospital-based donor care units.
These areas highlight the importance of nursing assessment, clinical judgment, and collaboration in supporting successful organ donation.
“Transplant success is not driven by a single intervention, technology, or clinician. Rather, it results from a coordinated system of care in which nursing is integral at every stage,” said Linda Ohler, MSN, CNS, CCTC, FAAN, FAST, ISHLTF, who co-edited the symposium with Coleman.
Transplant Nursing Continues Long After Surgery
For transplant recipients, surgery is only one stage of a lengthy care journey.
Patients require ongoing monitoring, medication management, and support as they recover and transition from the hospital to community-based care.
The symposium examines how nurse practitioners support heart transplant recipients from hospitalization through their return to everyday life.
It also explores strategies for strengthening collaboration between nurse practitioners and registered nurses to improve coordination across nursing roles.
Coleman, director of Nursing Research and Quality Improvement at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, also serves as a nurse practitioner and research scientist in the hospital’s Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Programs.
Her work reflects the combination of clinical practice, research, and quality improvement involved in contemporary transplant nursing.
What Advances in Organ Transplantation Mean for Nurses
The symposium offers critical care nurses, APRNs and nurse educators insights into the clinical knowledge and skills needed as transplantation evolves.
The summer 2026 issue focuses on clinical expertise, nursing leadership and interprofessional collaboration in organ donation and transplantation. The fall issue explores advances in transplant science and their implications for nursing practice.
Together, the articles reinforce that successful transplantation depends on more than surgical innovation.
As new procedures and technologies expand treatment options, critical care nurses and APRNs must continue developing the expertise to manage complex patients, recognize complications, and coordinate care across clinical settings.
