Abstract
ABSTRACT After an acute cardiac event, many patients experience emotional disturbance. This is a normal response to the event and to hospitalization, but, if not treated with emotive and social support, the symptoms can evolve, resulting in emotional and behavioural disorders. The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcome of the use of a new nursing relational tool, designed to support patients’ emotional recovery. The data are the result of semi-structured narrative interviews, conducted in the intensive cardio care unit of the Mauriziano hospital of Turin and by telephone, during March and August of 2017. The research sample involved 26 patients, divided into control and intervention groups. Exclusion criteria were: under age of 18, cognitive impairment or dementia, difficulty with comprehension and expression in Italian, and previous acute cardiac events. The interviews have shown that an emotional management tool improves the patient’s recovery, the quality of information received, and the quality of the patient’s everyday life after the event. The use of a relational tool by nursing staff improves the patient’s emotional management and increases the knowledge required to ensure a good quality of life. Continuous use also improves the confidence of health professionals in managing these emotional conditions.
Highlights
The economic and social weight of hospitalizations resulting from cardiovascular diseases is increasing; more than half of these hospitalizations are due to chronic evolutions and complications from acute events
The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcome of the use of a new nursing relational tool, designed to support patients’ emotional recovery
There are disturbances of the social field, like reduced self-esteem, concerns about role changes, and pessimism about the future. This distress is considered a normal response to loss and to increased awareness of mortality; frequently, it has a spontaneous resolution within a few months, but some patients present a negative evolution of these conditions, developing anxiety disorders and major depression (Murphy, Higgins, & Jackson, 2015)
Summary
The economic and social weight of hospitalizations resulting from cardiovascular diseases is increasing; more than half of these hospitalizations are due to chronic evolutions and complications from acute events. There are disturbances of the social field, like reduced self-esteem, concerns about role changes, and pessimism about the future. This distress is considered a normal response to loss and to increased awareness of mortality; frequently, it has a spontaneous resolution within a few months, but some patients present a negative evolution of these conditions, developing anxiety disorders and major depression (Murphy, Higgins, & Jackson, 2015). People who suffer from a cardiovascular event often do not receive adequate information about care continuation, rehabilitation, the chronic condition that affects them, and the need to change their eating and behavioural habits to prevent complications and to improve their quality of life (Pryor, Page, Patsamanis, & Jolly, 2014)
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