Nurses' perceptions of patients' needs post coronary artery bypass grafting

Abstract

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a stressful and emotional event for the patient, who faces his/her own mortality and possibly the need for an altered lifestyle. Identifying the needs of patients following an acute cardiac event is an essential step in the development of nursing interventions (Moser et al 1993) to facilitate patients' bio-psycho-social and spiritual adaptation. Thus, the needs of patients who experience CABG surgery are of primary importance to health care professionals (Gaw-Ews 1994). The present small scale explorative study attempts to explore nurses' perceptions of patients' needs post CABG. A convenience sample of 14 registered and enrolled nurses consisting of 4 males and 10 females from the Cardio-Thoracic Surgical unit (CTS) was used. A selfadministered semi-structured questionnaire, based on nurses' views of patients' needs, was completed by 13 respondents, achieving a 95 % response rate. Findings revealed that nurses' perceptions of patients' needs post CABG ranged from the bio-psycho-social, educational and spiritual needs. However, nurses seem to be less aware of the spiritual needs of patients. Although nurses appear to focus on the physical needs (Alimo & Hannah 1987), the psycho-social and educational needs were considered as important too. Furthermore, several factors were identified which seem to influence patients' needs such as fear of pain, dependency on activities of daily living, quality of nursing care, frequent visits and amount of information given. Consequently, patients' needs imply continuous assessment on an individual basis.