Knowledge and attitude regarding permanent pacemaker and the quality of life of patients after permanent pacemaker implantation

Cardiac pacing is an emerging lifesaving procedure that is being widely used in the recent times. Therefore, it is considered vital for the healthcare professionals to be aware of patients' knowledge and experience after the cardiac device implantation and also the impact these implanted devices have on their day-to-day life. This study was conducted with an aim to assess the knowledge and attitude of patients regarding permanent pacemakers (PMs) and their quality of life (QOL) after the permanent PM implantation. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used in this study. A total of seventy patients were chosen by total enumerative sampling technique among those patients attending the cardiology outpatient department, PM clinic and selected cardiology wards of a tertiary care centre in South India. A knowledge questionnaire, an attitude scale and RAND Short-Form-36 health survey were used to collect data. The mean age of the study patients was 61.71 ± 12.42 years, and 60% accounted for men. The median duration of implantation was 2.9 ± 5.21 years. Majority of the participants (54.3%) had moderately adequate knowledge, 55.7% of the participants had moderately favourable attitude and 46% of them experienced moderate QOL. There were a positive correlation between the knowledge of participants and their QOL (r = 0.340; P = 0.004) and a statistically significant positive correlation between the attitude of participants and their QOL (r = 0.559; P = 0.001). A significant association between attitude and age was found. Conscious effort must be taken to help patients cope better and experience good QOL through systematic teaching after the PM implantation. This will help patients to function maximally and live life to their best capacities in the family and society.