Date
10-16-2025
Department
School of Health Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc)
Chair
Morgan Waide
Keywords
Organ, transplantation, Kidney, renal, microbiology, pancreas, significance, instrumentation, analytical testing, UNOS
Disciplines
Laboratory and Basic Science Research | Medicine and Health Sciences
Recommended Citation
Williams, VeDarrius D., "Bacterial Identification, Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing (AST), and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) Testing to Increase Organ Transplantation within a Western Regional Community" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7555.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7555
Abstract
Clinical transplantation demands have increased immensely in recent years and, along with increasing supply shortages, many barriers to successful organ donation arise from a lack of dedicated testing to rule out microbial or bloodborne infections. There are currently minimal, federal regulatory requirements for transplantation specimen testing. The purpose of this study is to explore how to increase the viability and success of transplantations in the Western regions of the United States using kidney, pancreas, and kidney/pancreas transplant data from University Medical Center Southern Nevada (UMCSN) transplant center. UMCSN transplant center and Donor Services Laboratory (DSL) in Las Vegas perform bacterial identification, antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST), and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) testing to further enhance graft success. This study quantitatively analyzed retrospective transplantation data from UMCSN and regional/national Organ Procurement Transplantation Network (OPTN) using James’s (1907) Pragmatic Theory as a foundation for its research design. The data was analyzed using the descriptive analysis method and further statistically analyzed using paired t-test and Kruskal-Wallis tests for comparison. This study provides evidence of significant implementation impact between years of study at UMCSN that the enhanced microbiological and serological tests of interest can increase organ transplantation success; however, among the three center groups, there was no significant difference validated through quantitative analysis. The results of this research indicate a need for wider implementation, study applications, and future federal law changes covering transplantation testing requirements.
