ABSTRACT
Introduction: Perioperative care is nursing care provided by perioperative nurses to surgical patients during the perioperative period. Its role is important as patients especially those who had undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery encounter high levels of psychological and physical stress. Objective: To determine the needs of CABG patients throughout the perioperative period and how well those needs were met. Methods: This is a cross sectional descriptive survey. A total of 88 patients who had undergone coronary artery bypass graft were recruited through census sampling. The instrument which was adapted and used with permission for this study was “Survey of Patient Needs and Experiences during the Perioperative Period’ questionnaire (Davis et al., 2014). Results: The patients perceived the perioperative needs in the post-anaesthesia care unit area to be the most important (M = 2.89, SD = 0.06). Perioperative needs which were rated the highest for each of the four time periods were “Having information about the surgical procedure itself”, “Having your family member or significant other with you in the pre-surgical area complications”, “Being treated with respect and with dignity by hospital personnel” and “Having your family member or significant other visit you in the recovery room”. Overall, patients perceived their needs during perioperative period to be partly met (M = 2.73, SD = 0.07) with post-anaesthesia care unit area being rated the highest (M = 2.81, SD = 0.06). Conclusion: The results of this study highlighted the perceived needs of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery throughout their perioperative period. In order to improve the quality of perioperative care for patients, nurses need to take into consideration the important needs identified by the patients and address the items which were not meeting the needs of the patients.