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In organ transplantation, timing isn’t just critical. It is the difference between life and death. Every transplant is a race against the clock, requiring precise coordination among donor hospitals, transplant centers and surgical teams. Yet despite the stakes, the system designed to save lives is often hindered by something deceptively simple: poor communication.

The problem: Outdated tools in a high-stakes process

Even as medicine advances, many transplant teams still rely on fragmented, outdated tools to manage one of the most complex logistics challenges in healthcare. Paper checklists, Excel spreadsheets, group texts, pagers and fax machines remain part of daily workflows.

When an organ becomes available, hundreds of calls, emails and texts ripple between procurement teams, transplant coordinators, surgeons, ICU staff and recovery specialists. Each exchange carries the risk of delay, duplication or error. Every missed update risks compromising an organ or missing the extremely narrow window to perform a lifesaving surgery.

The consequences are staggering. One in five of recovered organs are ultimately not transplanted, often due to logistical breakdowns and communication delays. Meanwhile, more than 103,000 people remain on the national transplant waiting list, many of whom will never receive the call they are hoping for.

Who this failure touches: Patients, donors and families

For patients, waiting time is measured in hours, sometimes minutes. Hearts and lungs remain viable outside the body for only a short period of time. A single missed call or lost email can determine whether a patient receives a transplant.

Families who choose to donate also bear the weight of these failures. Their decision is made in moments of immense grief with the hope that their loved one’s gift will save lives. When organs aren’t transplanted, those families can feel their gift was wasted, adding needless pain to an already devastating moment. Strengthening communication isn’t just a clinical imperative; it’s a way to honor the generosity of donors and their families. 

The larger implications: Strain and trust

Demand for transplants continues to grow. At the same time, new technologies are extending how long organs can remain viable outside the body. But adding more organs into the pipeline doesn’t solve the problem if the communication infrastructure remains stuck in the past.

While policymakers and oversight bodies rightly focus on reforming allocation policies and donor protections, these efforts cannot succeed without tackling the practical question: How do we ensure every transplant decision is made with accurate, timely information?

If communication remains fragmented, mistakes will persist, trust will erode, and families may begin to question whether donated organs are truly saving as many lives as possible.

What we can learn: Solutions from other industries

Other sectors that manage high-stakes, complex operations from aviation to finance have long embraced secure, real-time collaboration tools. While healthcare has followed suit in many areas, transplantation lags.

My work focuses on addressing this silent risk. Several years ago, I helped design a dedicated communication and workflow platform for transplant teams. The goal was simple: replace the miscoordination of scattered calls, spreadsheets, and unsecured texts with one HIPAA-compliant system designed for the realities of transplantation.

A mobile-first platform allows surgeons to review offers on the go, integrates lightly with systems like Epic, and creates a shared, living record of every step in the process. Who was contacted, when and with what information are all documented and visible. By embedding checklists and standard operating procedures directly into the workflow, the tool helps new team members get up to speed quickly and supports consistency across teams and shifts.

The result is faster responses, fewer errors, and better alignment when minutes matter most.

Beyond logistics: Unlocking the value of data

Communication is only part of the solution. Increasingly, organs are transported on perfusion devices that extend viability and generate valuable data about organ health in real time. Historically, that data has remained siloed, sometimes treated as a black box.

Integrating perfusion data into communication platforms enables teams to make better-informed, real-time decisions. This improved information flow could help increase the number of organs deemed suitable for transplantation. 

Looking forward, the next frontier in transplantation will be as much about data as it is about logistics. A system that relies on real-time, organ-specific data rather than static donor records has the potential to improve patient outcomes.

The call to action: Modernize, don’t just expand

The promise of transplantation rests on the belief that every donated organ deserves the best chance to save a life. Advances in preservation techniques and post-transplant care have moved the field forward. But none of these innovations will reach their full potential if the most basic element of the process, how teams communicate, remains unreliable.

We must treat secure, purpose-built communication as critical infrastructure for transplantation, on par with surgical expertise or preservation technology. This isn’t about adding complexity. It is about ensuring teams have a single, trusted system to share updates, track actions and respond in real time.

It is also about accountability. With a clear record of every step in the process, hospitals can identify bottlenecks, improve performance and build confidence among patients and donor families that nothing is left to chance.

Better communication is not a luxury, it is a lifesaving necessity. Patients depend on it, families find comfort in it, and clinicians perform at their best when equipped with tools that remove needless barriers.

If we want a transplant system that truly reflects the promise of modern medicine, we must modernize how we communicate, share and decide. Only then can we say with confidence that every donated organ is given its fullest chance to save a life.

About Dalton Shaull, Director of Digital Services, XVIVO Bio

Dalton Shaull is a healthcare entrepreneur focused on improving efficiency and outcomes in organ transplantation. His perspective is shaped by personal experience, including a near-fatal automobile accident that required experimental nerve transplant surgery to regain function of a paralyzed arm.

Mr. Shaull founded and led Omnilife Health, a health IT company that developed FlowHawk, a clinical communication and workflow platform designed to improve organ utilization and streamline coordination across transplant teams. Under his leadership, Omnilife established a strong presence among leading U.S. transplant centers before being acquired by XVIVO Perfusion AB in 2024. He now serves as Director of Digital Services at XVIVO, where he leads efforts to expand adoption of digital solutions, support transplant center growth, reduce costs, and increase organ utilization to ensure no one dies waiting for a lifesaving organ.