Preparing patients for discharge following coronary artery bypass graft surgery

Abstract

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is an effective surgical procedure for the treatment of coronary artery disease. However, early discharge preparation may have increased the number of challenges and adjustments which the patients and their families may have encountered during recovery. The main purpose of the study was to explore how CABG patients were prepared for their discharge home. A small convenient sample of ten post CABG patients participated in this qualitative study. Data was collected through face to face semi-structured interviews held at the patients' homes one month after early discharge. Subsequently, data analysis was conducted by using thematic analysis. Five main themes emerged from the content analysis. These included: satisfaction with early discharge from hospital, methods and types of information received in hospital, readiness to understand the information, coping with post-discharge complications, and ways of feeling secure during recovery. The key findings suggested that a considerable number of patients reported of feeling satisfied with discharge preparation. Adequate discharge information provided prior early discharge was regarded as one of the important factors that facilitated the patients' transition from hospital to home. Yet, the study showed the need for more discharge education on some of the potential post-discharge problems. During the first month of recovery the patients managed to overcome several post-discharge complications which cropped up after early discharge following CABG surgery.