LEARNING NEEDS OF CARDIAC PATIENTS BY BAHRAINI NURSES AND PATIENTS

Abstract

Abstract : The purpose of this study was to explore cardiac patients' and nurses' perceptions of the importance of cardiac informational topics that concern patients from Bahrain. In addition, Bahraini males and females who had had a myocardial infaction were compared in regard to their perceptions of cardiac diseases. These results were compared with Gerard and Peterson's (1984) analysis which was done on American pa- tients and nurses. Sixty Babraini patients and fourteen Bahraini nurses were interviewed. All patients had experienced a myocardial infarction and all the nurses workad in the coronary care unit (CCU) of the Salmaniya Medical Center and had cared for these patients. The Cardiac Patient's Learning Needs Inventory (CPLNI) was developed by Gerard and Peterson (1984). It contains a list of 43 informational items commonly taught to cardiac patients. The CPLNI scale was trans- lated into Arabic for use with the Bahraini patients. The patients and nurses rated the items according to the degree of importance the items had for cardiac patients. Significant differences were found between patients and nurses. Using Spearman's rank-order correlation, the investigator found a correlation of r = .274 between the patients' and aurses' ranking of the items on the CPLNI scale. There was closer agreement between the male and female patients as indicated by a corre- lation of r = .944. Bahraini patients two items as being equally most important: decreasing chances of having another heart attack and where their family can go to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The nurses ranked knowing why the patient was in the CCU as the most impor- tant item for a patient to know and what the patient should do if she or he has chest pain as the second most important. The patients and nurses gave similar ratings to reasons for having intravenous (IV) tubes, coro- nary care unit (CCU) routines, counting pulse, and seeking medical help.