Title : How patients with permanent tracheostomy cope with daily life – An interview study on patients' perspective
Abstract:
Patients with a permanent tracheostomy are seen monthly having their tracheostomy canula changed in the outpatient clinic. The patient's behavior in the waiting area and the way they dress suggest that they are adversely affected by having a tracheal cannula. Investigating the literature did not show any publicized surveys about how a tracheostomy affects patients' daily life and their quality of life. We did find older surveys, but they only included patients with a temporary cannula. This study contributes to the literary gap with new knowledge about how to support the patients self-care with a permanent tracheostomy canula and contributes to improving the treatment of the patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to gain insight and a deeper understanding of coping with daily life from the patients' perspective. The study is based on qualitative semi structured interviews with 16 patients. The inclusion criteria for the participants were that they had to be 18 years+ and they were required to have been living with a permanent tracheostomy for minimum a year. This was to ensure that they had had time to experience life with the canula in order to share experiences about their daily life. Data was collected by semi structured interviews with patients. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed. These were then analyzed based on systematic text condensation as described by Kirsti Malterud. The study identified three main themes in the patients’ life experiences and how their everyday life changed when they got a tracheostomy. Themes were: New life conditions, anxiety, and coping. The patients had to live with new factors that affected their life conditions physically, psychologically, socially, and practically. Anxiety shows effects on the patients' daily life and can result in a lowered quality of life. The conditions and the anxiety that patients experienced in connection with getting a tracheal cannula were generic for all patients. This study provides an insight and deeper understanding of everyday life with a tracheal cannula. Some patients manage to have an everyday life that resembles the one they had before they had a tracheostomy, while others find coping strategies that can have a negative effect on their everyday life and ultimately lead to a reduced quality of life.
Audience Take Away:
- To create insight into the life and the challenges of patients living with a permanent tracheostomy.
- The results will hopefully contribute to creating improved communications and interventions in the clinic, so that the nursing staff becomes a professional sparring partner for the patients, which they inquire, so they feel less alone with their issues.
- To inspire further research into how to support patients in their everyday life, in relation to, for example: sleep, mucus, dysphagia, and body image.
