Suffering and Attitudes Toward Death of Patients With Heart Failure in Japan: A Grounded Theory Approach

Experience of suffering in patients with hypertension: a qualitative analysis of in-depth interview of patients in a university hospital in Seoul, Republic of Korea

OBJECTIVE

To describe the suffering experienced by patients with hypertension, not only regarding symptoms, but also suffering in a social context.

DESIGN

A qualitative analysis of semi-structured interview data. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A descriptive approach was taken by exploring patient accounts and presenting their experiences and perspectives.

SETTING

Cardiology clinic in a university hospital (Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea).

PARTICIPANTS

Patients with hypertension and without serious comorbidities who had been followed-up at a cardiology clinic of a training university hospital.

RESULTS

Nineteen men and women (male:female=12:7) were interviewed. The mean age was 44 years, and the average hypertension duration was 4 years. All 19 patients reported symptoms allegedly to be associated with hypertension. Anxiety about blood pressure fluctuation and hypertension complications, dislike of antihypertensive medication and associated labelling effect, family stress and refusal to be enrolled in life insurance were commonly found among patients' interviews. Relatively younger (≤50 years of age), actively working patients experienced stigmatisation and discrimination in the workplace.

CONCLUSION

The illness experience of patients with hypertension consists of suffering associated with threatened or damaged self-identity at the individual and social level. Medical professionals should have more awareness of the suffering of these patients to improve the quality of care. An education programme with proper focus on the elements of patients' suffering may help to alleviate it.

Palliative Care for Patients With Heart Failure: An Integrative Review

Palliative care should be integrated into routine disease management for all patients with serious illness, regardless of settings or prognosis. The purposes of this integrative review were to identify the features of randomized controlled trials for adult patients with heart failure and to provide basic references for the development of future trials. Using Whittemore and Knafl's integrative literature review method, comprehensive searches of the PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Korean databases were conducted, integrating keywords about heart failure and palliative care interventions. Quality appraisal was assessed using Cochrane risk-of-bias tools. In total, there were 6 trials providing palliative care interventions integrating team-based approaches between palliative care specialists and nonpalliative clinicians, such as a cardiologist, cardiac nurse, and advanced practice nurse across inpatient and outpatient settings. The different types of interventions included home visits, symptom management via phone calls or referral to a specialist team, and the establishment of treatment planning. Patient-reported outcome measures included positive effects of palliative interventions on symptom burden and quality of life. Given that most of the selected studies were conducted in Western countries, palliative care should be culturally tailored to assist heart failure patients worldwide.