ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the psychological experience of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during hospitalization.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From November 2012 to February 2013, semi-structured interviews were conducted in 10 patients with AMI in the Cardiovascular Department of First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology. Grounded theory approach was performed to analyze the collected data.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The 6 themes and 3 secondary themes during their hospitalization were: helplessness and dependence when AMI was diagnosed fear of immediate death induced by AMI, confusion on various problems such as operation time, excretory after PCI and limited knowledge details, the feel of safety after PCI, the fear of AMI, and the worry about overtreatment.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Hospitalized AMI patients have complicated psychological responses. Medical staff should provide targeted strategies and timely communication with AMI patients to reduce their psychological burden.</p>