Introduction: Donor coordinators play a pivotal role in the success of the organ donation process. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of a peer-led participatory competitive training model with conventional training methods in cultivating sustainable and engaged donor coordinators.
Materials & Methods:  In this study, in the traditional training group, 45 registered participants—eligible 6th or 8th term medical students—underwent a combination of theoretical and practical instruction. In contrast, the participatory training group consisted of 78 participants who first completed a theoretical course and were then divided into teams of eight. Each team was assigned a topic to collaboratively develop educational materials, which were subsequently passed on to another group for enhancement—fostering both competition and collaboration.
Results: In the conventional training method, the participants gave the course a score of 4.12 out of 5 and in the participatory group a score of 4.52 out of 5, which was not significantly different. Of the initial 45 volunteers, 27 (60%) achieved the minimum score of 70% in the theory test. Of the 78 volunteers who participated in the initial introduction session, 48 (61.5%) entered the participatory training phase. In the conventional training group, 27 participants passed the theory test and 14 (31% of the total 45) entered the clinical training course. In the conventional training group, 4 people entered the profession (8.9% of the total). Of which 2 continued to cooperate (4.5% of the total). In the collaborative group, 16 people (20.5%) were accepted as coordinators, all of whom continued to cooperate (20.5%) (P=0.03). The average length of the training course in the conventional method was 25 ± 8 days and in the collaborative course was 45 ± 13 days, and the average cooperation was 8 ± 3 and 14 ± 9 months, respectively.
Conclusion: The peer-led participatory competitive training model resulted in a higher number of engaged and retained donor coordinators, with longer training and sustained participation, suggesting it may be a more effective approach for developing long-term specialists in organ donation coordination.