South Africa (SA) has a rich history in solid organ transplantation, with the first heart transplant performed at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, in 1967. [1] Organ donation is a prerequisite for transplantation, and it is therefore concerning that the number of organ donors in the Western Cape Province and nationally has decreased over the last decade. [2] Prompt identification and referral of potential brain stem dead donors in the intensive care units (ICUs) and emergency departments is of utmost importance, according to international studies. [3-5] The consent rate among families of potential donors in SA decreased from 55% in 1991 to 50% in 2001, and to 32% in 2011. [6,7] SA has a very low donor rate of 1.7 per million population, [2] in comparison with Spain, the world leader in organ donation, with a 40 per million population rate. [8] Spain is an international leader in the management of deceased organ donation, and by 2015 the country had trained 16 000 healthcare professionals regarding organ donation. [8] This illustrates that training and increased knowledge play a role in the early identification and referral of potential organ donors. In SA, there are currently 22 procuring organ transplant coordinators (OTCs), [9] which is clearly inadequate for a population of 57.73 million. [10] The three OTCs (specifically responsible for organ procurement) for private hospitals in Cape Town visit 32 private hospitals from all the hospital groups in the Cape Peninsula and surrounding area on a monthly