Open heart surgery and its consequences for well-being

Both historically and today, the aim of open heart surgery is the prolongation of life as well as the relief of symptoms. However, increased ability to prolong life has given rise to a variety of questions about quality of life including not only physical but also psychological and social dimensions. Adjustment to open heart surgery is complex, and multidimensional explanations are required in order to understand it. There are few descriptions about the consequences of open heart surgery that view the patient and his/her relatives as a unit and thus an indivisible part of each other s lifeworld. Therefore, this book provides a different kind of knowledge about the exposed situation of patients and relatives in connection with open heart surgery. Depressed mood over time among the studied patients is described as well as patient fragility, relatives integrated endurance and the interplay between these reactions. Furthermore, health care professionals limited ability to recognise sigs of reduced well-being in the families concerned is highlighted. This book should be especially important to students and health care professionals in cardiac care but also in health care in general.