“Those Plates That Save Meâ€: Experiences of Italian Patients With Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator

Ivana Maria Rosi, Francesca Bombardieri, Daniele Steri, Mimma Sternativo and Stefania Rancati

Clinical Nursing Research, 2021, vol. 30, issue 5, 616-624

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate and understand the experiences and feelings lived by people with an ICD. Qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 16 patients, during the annual follow-up. A hermeneutical analysis of the interviews was carried out to identify the themes. Four main themes were classified: “My heart falls asleep,†highlighting a reduced awareness of the pathology and ICD installation; “But what is this thing. . .?†underlining the lack of information and fears related to the device and its functioning; “I cannot hug the microwave†which describes the changes brought about by the surgery; “And with this one I am alright for the rest of my life†, involving hopes and life expectations. This study highlighted the patients’ need for major support from health professionals while processing their new life conditions.

Keywords: defibrillators implantable; life change events; qualitative research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1054773820968036 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:clnure:v:30:y:2021:i:5:p:616-624

DOI: 10.1177/1054773820968036

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Clinical Nursing Research
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().