The Lived Experiences of Patients Waiting for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study

Waiting for coronary artery bypass grafting is an unpleasant experience for patients and is associated with physical and psychological problems. The aim of this study was to recognize lived experiences of patients waiting for coronary artery bypass graft.
This qualitative study was conducted using an interpretative phenomenological approach and proposed method of Van Manen. Twelve participants (9 men and 3 women) were purposefully selected with maximum variation from Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Qom city, in 2016. The data of this study were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews in the period of time between 40 to 70 minutes. The recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim to text, then, the transcribed texts were analyzed using the proposed van Manen’s six-step method.
From analysis of participant's statements, concepts, such as sense of panic, fear of death, understanding patients’ collaboration, understanding the importance of heart, decision for heart surgery, and trying to keep calm, were deduced.
The participants of this study, from diagnosis of cardiovascular disease until the time of artery bypass grafting, thought that they were at risk for heart attack and death, and in spite of fear of death and sense of panic, they used peer-patients to control these negative experiences. Therefore, the members of health care team, particularly nurses, can provide necessary trainings to help patients from diagnosis time until surgery.