Transplant center support for infectious diseases.

BACKGROUND

Transplant Infectious Diseases (TID) is a rapidly growing subspecialty, which has contributed significantly to improving patient outcomes after transplantation. Obtaining institutional support to implement programs that promote excellence in patient care remains a challenge for many non-surgical transplant-related specialties.

METHOD

We surveyed the membership of the American Society of Transplantation Infectious Diseases Community of Practice to assess characteristics of individual transplant programs and delineate current patterns of institutional support of TID, with a goal of facilitating the exchange of innovative funding ideas between transplant programs.

RESULTS

Of 53 questionnaires returned, 36 programs reported the existence of a dedicated TID service for adults. Of these, the ratio of dedicated TID providers to the number of solid organ transplant patients transplanted annually ranged from 15:1 to 259:1. A total of 21% of responding programs indicated that they received no support from their institution. Respondents from larger programs were more likely to receive some type of programmatic support.

CONCLUSION

Given that the presence of expert TID input into patient care can improve outcomes through direct patient management and transplant team education, we suggest that continued support of the unbillable time contributed by TID practitioners is a critical part of ensuring excellent outcomes after transplantation.