器官捐贈主要來源是頭部外傷或中風的腦死病人。不管是頭部外傷或中風，皆是未預期的意外，因此往往造成家屬極大的心理衝擊。醫護人員因勸捐技術的缺乏，加上心理上有角色衝突、怕增加家屬痛苦、潛意識治療失敗的罪惡感等等，而無法開口勸募器官捐贈。家屬面對病人意外死亡有五個心理階段：否認→憤怒→討價還價→情緒低落→接受事實，惟有家屬順利達到最後的心理階段，能接受病人死亡的事實，才有可能考慮器官捐贈。因此家屬的悲傷輔導，才是更基本而重要的，應被視為是醫療的一部分，而器官捐贈只是死亡病例家屬悲傷輔導附帶的一部分。

Nursing care for patients, who are diagnosed as being brain dead, is a challenging experience for nurses, who are intensely involved with assisting family members with the donation process. Nurses need to understand the five stages of psychological process experienced by family members following the sudden death of a loved one: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, finally, acceptance. Only after accepting the death of the patient, may the potential organ donor's family member consider donating the loved one's organs. Helping the family member with their grief is essential when providing such nursing interventions. Nurses should provide sensitive care to potential organ donors' families.