Should I stay or should I go? An exploration of the decision-making behavior of acute cardiac patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
S Burton, J A Hayes, N Morrell-Scott and 4 others
PMID 34823051WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with acute cardiac symptoms often told family or friends first, then delayed emergency care.
They minimized symptoms, feared catching COVID or burdening hospitals, and relied on informal advice. These themes may help explain delayed presentation.
Key findings
01Most patients first disclosed symptoms to family, friends or neighbours, and those people helped decide whether to seek medical help.
02Participants often attributed chest symptoms to mild problems such as indigestion or heartburn, and eased symptoms led some to delay seeking help.
03Some patients feared catching COVID in hospital, and just under half perceived formal healthcare options such as GP services as limited.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Findings come from 25 patients' accounts, so they describe experiences rather than prove why patients delay or show what changes behaviour. The sample was mainly white British, so culturally specific factors may be missing. Some interviews happened long after admission, which could impair recall of family conversations. Participants were recruited from three UK cardiac centres during lockdowns, and differences across lockdowns were not accounted for. Only 25 of 56 initially contacted participated, and some were uncontactable or ineligible, so the sample may not represent all acute cardiac patients.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Liverpool John Moores University's COVID-19 Pandemic: Rapid Response Grant Fund. IJ has received research grant funding from Bristol Myers Squibb and Astra Zeneca. DJW provides consultancy services to Boston Scientific and Medtronic. All other authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that government messaging or fear alone caused delayed presentation. These are accounts from 25 mainly white British patients, and the study did not test how messages changed behaviour.