Psychosocial Issues in Heart Transplantation: A Review for Transplant Coordinators

Abstract

The latest advances in medicine and technology are used to care for transplant recipients, yet many patients have psychosocial difficulties that technology alone cannot resolve. Although most healthcare professionals acknowledge the importance of the staff's role in working with patients to resolve psychosocial problems, little research has examined the nature of staff-patient relationships and the proven ability of good relationships to improve outcomes. The purposes of this paper are to profile psychosocial risk and its relationship to outcomes after heart transplantation, explore staff-patient interactions in dealing with psychosocial problems, and present a growth and development model that can be used as a theoretical base to establish a more therapeutic alliance with patients.

Psychological evolution and assessment in patients undergoing orthotopic heart transplantation

“…Dew et al [8] in their study found that anxiety and depression levels raise in the early post-transplant period but rapidly decrease over time in two-thirds of the patients. Yet, preoperative psychological disorders may subsist and influence the patient's outcome after transplantation [23], in particular anxio-depressive symptoms [2]. Moreover, psychological problems can be related to hospital stay after transplantation.…”

An internet-based intervention to improve psychosocial outcomes in heart transplant recipients and family caregivers: development and evaluation

“…[1][2][3]6,12,13 In addition, poor medical compliance (i.e., behavior that fails to coincide with medical recommendations 14,15 ) across the multifaceted post-transplant regimen is frequently observed in heart recipients. 4 By the end of the first year post-transplant, for example, up to 20% of recipients are non-compliant with transplant team standards for taking medications, and up to 48% have difficulties in other areas, including following dietary guidelines, exercising as prescribed, and regularly attending follow-up medical evaluations.…”

“…Its goal was to address issues that our own and others' research have found to be central for heart recipients and their families: the need for skills training for managing emotional distress 1,3,8,11,19,22 and the posttransplant medical regimen 1,4,16 ; the provision of information about post-transplant health and QOL issues; 3,29 ways to communicate easily with the transplant team about non-emergency issues; and a forum for communication with other transplant families to provide mutual social support. 8,16 We hypothesized that, if patients and family caregivers had access to this intervention, and if the website were monitored carefully, we should be able to improve the 3 targeted psychosocial outcome areas.…”

Psychological distress of surgical patients after orthotopic heart transplantation

“…tients. Yet, preoperative psychological disorders may subsist and influence the patient's outcome after transplantation [19], in particular anxio-depressive symptoms [2]. Moreover, psychological problems can be related with a hospital stay for at least 1 year after transplantation.…”