The Role of the Patients' Companion in the Transitional Care from the Open Heart Surgery ICU to the Cardiac Surgery Ward: A Qualitative Content Analysis.
Sahar Khoshkesht, Shahrzad Ghiyasvandian, Maryam Esmaeili and 1 others
PMID 33875964WHAT IT FOUND
Patients and nurses described companions as helping cardiac surgery patients through transfer by giving emotional support, meeting basic needs, reporting warning signs and bridging language gaps, but nurses also said they could interfere with care or create tension.
Key findings
01The main theme was a dual role: companions could support continuity of care but could also interfere with care and create tension.
02Facilitator roles included emotional support, meeting basic needs, assisting with direct care such as coughing, using a spirometer or raising legs, reporting warning signs, and bridging communication.
03Inhibitor roles included interfering with care because of low knowledge, education or cultural differences, and creating tension between staff and families.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is qualitative and did not test whether involving companions improves patient outcomes. It was done at one hospital in Iran, so its cultural and staffing context may not match other settings. The sample included only 5 companions and 11 patients, and the paper notes that this can limit transferability. The paper does not describe training, task boundaries or safety rules for companions, so it cannot show how to involve them safely. Themes were developed by the research team, and although they used checks such as member checking and consensus, different analysts might group the experiences differently.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that letting companions stay through transfer improves recovery or safety. The paper reports what patients, companions and nurses said about their roles; it did not compare groups or test an intervention.