Nurses' perceptions of the information needs of post-myocardial infarction patients during hospitalization

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe nurses' perceptions of which information post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients would find most helpful regarding their condition and recovery. The perceptions of two groups of nurses working in a community hospital were compared: nurses in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and nurses on the medical ward (3N). Results were also compared to those obtained in a similar study which sought the perceptions of post-MI patients themselves (deLeon-Demare, Savage and Kilpatrick, in press). Information items were selected from the Heart Attack Book (HAB), a publication of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Manitoba. The Q-sort procedure was utilized with 10 nurses from each setting. Sixty (60) information items were sorted into seven (7) categories: a Likert-type scale of "Most Helpful" to "Least Helpful" which included a central "Uncertain" category. The number of items placed into each category was pre-determined by the Q-sort procedure. The method utilized in this work was identical to that in the deLeon-Demare et al study, for ease of comparison. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)