Open-Heart Surgery from the Psychological Point of View and Resulting Therapeutic Considerations

Abstract

A total of 168 patients underwent thorough psychological investigation before and after open-heart surgery. The pre-operative psychological status and the psychosocial situation of the patients were studied by means of questionnaires and semi-standardized interviews. The post-operative psychic status was documented daily on the first four post-operative days and once after discharge from the intensive care unit, by means of a slightly modified version of the AMP rating scale. We found significant correlations between psychosocial problems, the patients’ ability to cope with their illness, the surgical stress and the environmental stress of the intensive care unit, and post-operative psychic disturbances. The results lead to deliberations on therapeutic consequences.

Evaluation des AMDP-Systems anhand der neueren Literatur (1983 bis 1987) - Überblicksarbeit

“…Mittels der Skalen ließen sich unterschiedliche Patientencluster identifizieren. Meffert et al (1979) haben gezeigt, daß psychosoziale Probleme des Patienten, Belastung und Bewältigungsformen mit der Psychopathologie nach der Herzoperation zusammenhängen.…”