Recording patients' views on organ donation: when to ask them and how to record the answer.

: Six hundred twenty-six adult outpatients in two British general hospitals completed questionnaires on organ donation. The patients were asked their opinions on being asked their views on donating their organs after death, on when during an outpatient or a hospital visit they would prefer to be asked about donations, and on how they would choose to have their decision recorded. Commenting on their findings, the authors recommend that a question on organ donation be included on the registration form for new hospital outpatients, and that patients' responses be recorded on the hospital computer.