Study on Recipients' Experience of Adapting to Permanent Pacemakers / 중환자간호학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study develops a substantive theory on the recipients' experience of adapting to a permanent pacemaker.METHOD: The study used the grounded theory method developed by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The participants of the study were 13 adults who had received a permanent pacemaker during the previous year. The study addressed the research question “what is the experience of adaptation in people who had received permanent pacemakers?” From October 2016 to March 2017, data were collected from the participants through in-depth interviews.RESULTS: The core category indicating the essence of the adaptation experience was shown to be “accepting the pacemaker as part of my body and living in line with it.”CONCLUSION: In nursing practice, the results of this study will assist nurses in improving their communications with and developing guidelines or interventions for their clients who have received permanent pacemakers. In the field of nursing education, this study is expected to provide a framework to understand the experiences of future nurses and other healthcare workers working with permanent pacemaker recipients.