Percutaneous coronary intervention and heart surgery learning needs of patients in Jordan

AIM: This study aimed to identify and prioritize the perceived learning needs of patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention or open-heart surgery. BACKGROUND: Identifying learning needs for post-cardiac intervention patients is essential to establish successful health education programmes based on patient central care. METHODS: A descriptive comparative design was employed on a convenience sample of 260 patients who underwent a percutaneous coronary intervention and 105 patients who underwent open-heart surgery patients. Participants had completed the Patient Learning Needs Scale. Data were collected between 1 October 2014 and 31 June 2015. RESULTS: Patients from the two groups highly requesting health and recovery related information. They scored all learning need topics as important or highly important for them. The top priority learning need for both patient groups was 'information about wound care', and the lowest priority learning need topic was 'physical activity'. CONCLUSIONS: The learning needs of both groups were very close, which indicated that educational secondary prevention programmes' content can be prepared in a unified structure for those patients. Although, specific headings can be used to address the unique needs that emerge from having a specific cardiac interventional procedure. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: The fact that wound care and medications are areas of highest learning needs for patients requires health policy decision makers to address these topics at the time of hospital discharge. In addition, a policy focus on considering patients' actual learning needs requires establishment and managerial support. As patients' learning needs might change later after discharge, the health services should be proactive and focus on continuous support for patients after hospital discharge. Secondary prevention programmes should incorporate health education topics based on patients' own views. This can be done by giving higher priority to understand patients' needs, put much more effort into how to meet patients' information needs and to create a more engaging learning environment for patients and their families.