Core Curriculum for Transplant Nurses

Selected as a Doody's Core Title for 2025!

Face the complex challenges of transplant nursing with confidence, with the newly expanded and updated Core Curriculum for Transplant Nurses, 2nd Edition .

This official publication of the International Transplant Nurses Society (ITNS) offers crucial, real-life direction on the science and skills required for every kind of solid organ transplant, from initial evaluation to long-term follow-up. Based on the Certified Clinical Transplant Nurse (CCTN) exam content, this is a must-have training and teaching guide for nursing educators, students, and all clinicians seeking CCTN certification or a transplant nursing practice.

This unique resource offers the core knowledge needed for safe, effective transplant care, with …

• NEW chapter on quality assurance and performance improvement (QAPI) and regulatory issues
• NEW chapter on vascular composite allograft transplantation (VCA)
• NEW chapter on mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices
• NEW United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) criteria for VCA procedures and other UNOS policies, including organ allocation policies
• NEW Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines for patient selection for destination therapy
• NEW evidence-based International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation guidelines
• NEW patient discharge checklists, and examples of QAPI scorecards and regulator indicators
• More than 200 end-of-chapter sample test questions to aid CCTN exam study
• More than 200 new and updated charts and figures
• Outline format that supports on-the-spot reference , with detailed direction on:
  • Transplant immunology and pharmacology; updated content on medications
  • Psychosocial issues
  • Ethical issues, such as living donations and procuring deceased donors
  • Allocation systems for organs in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia
  • Care of living donors
  • Life-long posttransplant follow-up
  
  
• Organ-specific chapters offer comprehensive information on areas including:
  • Initial organ-specific evaluation
  • Pre- and postoperative adult and pediatric care
  • Pathophysiology of end-stage organ failure
  • Surgical techniques
  • Immunosuppressive medications
  • Posttransplant complications
  • Discharge teaching and follow-up
  
  
• Essential study guide for the American Board for Transplant Certification (ABTC) Certified Clinical Transplant Nurse exam, the ABTC Certified Clinical Transplant Coordinators exam, and the CCTN certification exam.

Sandra Cupples, PhD, RN, FAAN, has more than 20 years of transplant nursing experience, and is currently President-Elect of the International Transplant Nurses Society.

Stacee Lerret, PhD, RN, CPNP-AC/PC, CCTC, has more than 15 years of transplant experience, and is a pediatric liver transplant nurse practitioner at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, an Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and an adjunct professor for the College of Nursing at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Vicki McCalmont, RN, MS, ANP-BC, CNS, CCTC, is a 30-year nursing veteran, now working in heart transplantation and mechanical support, and a professor at the San Diego State University Master's in Nursing program.

Linda Ohler, MSN, RN, CCTC, FAAN, has more than 25 years of experience in transplantation, and is Quality and Regulatory Manager of the George Washington University Transplant Institute in Washington, DC.