Abstract Introduction The ICU is a fast-paced, high-stakes environment. Checklists are essential for standardizing care and improving team coordination. While traditional paper checklists have demonstrated benefits, they are often limited by loss or incomplete documentation. To address these limitations, we developed an electronic checklist integrated into each patient’s daily progress note. This tool is designed to assist physicians and nurses in recalling important tasks, such as the early removal of Foley catheters and central lines, as well as timely referrals for organ donation. Methods A prospective pre-post intervention quality improvement study was conducted in a Medical ICU from October to November 2023. Patients with chronic Foley catheters or central lines, and those carried over from October into November, were excluded.Paper checklists were used during rounds in October (pre-intervention phase). An electronic version was adapted from the existing paper checklist with added variables. Based on the feedback from the ICU attendings, residents, and nurses, the finalized checklist was incorporated into the Cerner EMR as a dot phrase. Residents were trained via email and noon conferences. The electronic checklist was implemented in November (post-intervention phase). Data for both the pre-intervention and post-intervention phases were collected retrospectively. Results Organ donation notification was indicated in 13 of 16 patients (81.3%) pre-intervention and 9 of 19 patients (47.4%) post-intervention. Of those indicated, 1 of 13 (7.7%) were notified in the pre-intervention group, compared to 6 of 9 (66.7%) post-intervention (p = 0.001). No patients were accepted for organ donation in the pre-intervention group. In the post-intervention, among patients for whom organ donation notification was indicated and data were available, 2 of 8 (25%) were accepted (p = 0.133). There were no significant differences in mean Foley catheter duration (5.3 vs. 5.5 days; p = 0.384) or central line duration (4.9 vs. 5.4 days; p = 0.804) between the pre- and post-intervention groups. Conclusions According to the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, 105,928 individuals remained on the waiting list as of July 27, 2025. In a study by Krmpotic et al., only 66.2% of appropriate organ donation referrals were made, resulting in 251 missed potential donors. This highlights the importance of timely identification and referral of eligible patients. Our study demonstrated a statistically significant increase in organ donation referrals following implementation of an electronic checklist. While the increase in actual organ donation acceptance in the post-intervention group was not statistically significant, the trend suggests a positive impact. This abstract is funded by: None
Siew et al. (Fri,) studied this question.