Pediatric Heart Transplants
Stephanie Wood
ITT Technical Institute
Breckinridge School of Nursing
Professor M. Siddique
GS1145

Pediatric Heart Transplants I am in school to become a nurse, my goal is to become a pediatric trauma nurse when I am done with school and all the training needed. I was pushed to this goal by having a sick child in the Neonatal unit when she was born. Then many visits to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, the staff there was fantastic and showed me what a difference one person can make, the right person can make. The very first heart transplant was done in South Africa in December of 1967, and then three days later in Brooklyn, New York the first pediatric heart transplant was done. It was performed on a two and a half week old infant with an Ebstein anomaly. Unfortunately the patient passed away six hours later. (Professionals, 2013) Bleak results were very common so after 1967 pediatric heart transplants were placed on hold until improvements in the outcomes could be made. Then in 1984, the first effective pediatric heart transplants were executed at several centers around the US. (Professionals, 2013) Heart transplants are performed as a life saving measure, when all other medical treatment and less invasive surgical options have been attempted and failed. Because donors are in such a short patients that are in need of a transplant go through an extensive selection process. The patient needs to be sick enough to need a transplant, but well enough to receive the heart. (Michigan, 2013) There is a team of specialists at the heart transplant centers that will evaluate which patients are eligible for the transplant. The team includes a cardiologist, a doctor who specializes in treating anything that has to do with the heart, a cardiac surgeon, a doctor who performs the actual surgery, a transplant coordinator, which is the person who makes arrangements for the surgery, a social worker, a dietitian, and a psychiatrist. (Michigan, 2013) Time spent on the waiting list for a heart could be extensive. However it will also play a role in who will receive the donor heart. For instance if two patients on the list meet the same needs, the patient that has been on the waiting list longer will receive the heart. Patients can be taken off the donor list for serious health problems such as a stroke, infections, or kidney failure. (Michigan, 2013)