Perceptions of delay when afflicted by an acute myocardial infarction during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johanna Granström, Pontus Lantz, Matthias Lidin and 2 others
PMID 35672906WHAT IT FOUND
AMI patients who delayed care described fear of catching COVID-19, believing hospitals were overloaded, and not wanting to burden care.
Family or unbearable symptoms finally pushed them to call emergency.
Key findings
01Participants described fear of being exposed to COVID-19 in healthcare settings as a reason for delaying care.
02Participants said media reports of overloaded hospitals made them judge their symptoms as not serious enough to seek care.
03When symptoms became unbearable, or family members insisted, participants finally sought care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were selected because they reported increased delay due to the pandemic, so this does not describe AMI patients who did not delay care. Only 14 interviews were done, and 12 were men, so the views are not broadly representative. The study was done in one Swedish region with Swedish-speaking participants. Interviews were 5 to 9 months after the heart attack, so recall may have been affected. Telephone interviews were used, and video interviews were not done because of technical and confidentiality issues. This is a qualitative study of perceptions, so it cannot show how long delay was, what caused it, or whether patient education changes outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as proof that fear caused longer AMI delays or that patient education changes outcomes. The study only describes perceptions of patients who already said they delayed care, with no comparison group or outcome data.