呼叫朋友和家人:对医院内心脏骤停幸存者至关重要的照顾者
By Laura Williamson, American Heart Association 线上电子游戏飞禽走兽
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在医院心脏骤停后的几年里,为亲人提供照顾的人对幸存者的康复至关重要. But while doing so can create a sense of purpose, 它还会让照顾者远离他们的社交网络,扰乱他们的生活和人际关系, 新研究发现.
的 研究, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, 强调护理改变照顾者生活的积极和消极方式, 人们如何应对这些挑战以及他们对额外支持和资源的需求.
“医院内心脏骤停幸存者的护理人员并没有得到很多关注," said lead 研究 author Molly Harrod, 他是密歇根州安娜堡弗吉尼亚州临床管理研究中心的健康服务研究员. “大多数研究都集中在院外心脏骤停,这是一种不同的创伤."
只有大约9%的美国人.S. 根据最新的研究,经历院外心脏骤停的成年人存活下来 American Heart Association statistics. But in-hospital cardiac arrest has a survival rate of about 19%. 先前的研究 shows roughly 290,000 adults have cardiac arrests in U.S. 每年的医院.
“对于院内心脏骤停,他们住院的原因通常是另一个,”哈罗德说. "When they survive a cardiac arrest, there is still the underlying health issue they were in the hospital for."
例如, 有些人可能因为控制糖尿病的相关问题而入院, 她说, when they suddenly experience cardiac arrest. When they are discharged, 他们可能需要护理,以帮助从心脏骤停中恢复,以及持续的糖尿病护理.
她说:“突然之间,护理人员不得不扮演一个他们从未考虑过的角色。.
在研究中, 哈罗德和她的同事采访了19名在医院心脏骤停后幸存下来的退伍军人,并要求他们指出一位朋友或家人是他们的主要照顾者. 在确认的17名护理人员中,有12人同意通过电话采访他们的经历. All were female and nine were spouses of the veterans. 剩下的三个, who did not live with the survivor, 一个是父母, 一个是兄弟姐妹, and one was an adult child. Ten of the veterans were men and two were women, with an average age of 62.
Most survivors had in-home professional care when discharged from the hospital. But four to five years later, at the time of the interview, all were still receiving care from a family member or friend. 的 caregivers performed tasks such as providing transportation, 发放药品, grocery shopping and cooking, 提供情感支持,并充当幸存者的主要信息来源.
哈罗德说,照顾者描述的大多数经历都属于“破坏”的主题——“照顾如何扰乱了他们自己的生活。, their relationships with the veterans and also their own well-being."
的 people interviewed called caring for the veteran "physically, mentally and emotionally difficult,哈罗德说.
许多人说,他们退出了自己的社交活动,因为他们担心自己不在的时候,所爱的人可能会再次心脏骤停. 照顾的要求有时使照顾自己的需要变得困难. 哈罗德说,许多人描述自己经历了抑郁、焦虑和创伤后应激障碍.
"This was five years after the cardiac arrest, and they were still struggling with those issues,她说.
But some of the disruption caretakers described was positive. Some "really took pride in being able to do this,哈罗德说.
的 positive aspects of caregiving don't get enough attention, 拉纳克·特里维迪说, 他是加州斯坦福大学精神病学和行为科学系的临床健康心理学家和助理教授. “人们这样做是因为他们关心他们所照顾的人,他们通常会感到更强烈的联系感, a sense of purpose and meaning,她说.
Different cultures also have different attitudes about caregiving, 说Trivedi, who was not involved in the research. 例如,在许多亚洲文化中,“他们没有那么多的负担感. 有更多积极的方面,因为他们觉得他们在履行职责或满足需求. 他们会有积极的情绪,因为他们是下一代的榜样."
一些照顾者找到了应对策略来管理他们角色的消极方面, including counseling and stress-relieving activities, such as gardening or prayer, 哈罗德说. “他们试图找到不同的应对方式,并且在这方面非常机智."
但他们也表示需要临时护理和支持,让他们得到必要的休息, 她说. “他们觉得有一个医疗服务提供者在那里很舒服,这样他们就可以走出家门."
这类护理通常在出院后立即提供, but not over the long term, 哈罗德说. 护理人员认为,如果这种情况能够持续下去,他们就可以休息一下了."
特里维迪说,护理人员也需要在医疗保健系统中更多地认识到他们所扮演的角色.
"的y're often not seen as part of a person's health care team, even though they are the experts on how patients get managed day to day,她说. "What we are not doing is treating caregivers as the experts that they are."