PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF PATIENTS OPINIONS OF QUEUING FOR CORONARY-ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT-SURGERY AT ONE CANADIAN CENTER

Objectives-To explore psychological and socioeconomic concerns of pati ents who queued for coronary artery bypass surgery and the effectivene ss of support existing in one Canadian cardiovascular surgical centre. Design-Standardised questionnaire and structured interview. Setting-V ictoria General Hospital, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Subjects-100 consecuti ve patients awaiting non-emergency bypass surgery. Results-Most patien ts (96%) found the explanation of findings at cardiac catheterisation and the justification given for surgery satisfactory. However, 84 pati ents complained that waiting for surgery was stressful and 64 register ed at least moderate anxiety. Anger over delays was expressed by 16%, but only 4% thought that queuing according to medical need was unfair. Economic hardship, attributed to delayed surgery, was declared by 15 patients. This primarily affected those still working - namely, blue c ollar workers and younger age groups. Only 41% of patients were satisf ied with existing institutional supports. Problems related mainly to p oor communication. Conclusions-Considerable anxiety seems to be experi enced by most patients awaiting bypass surgery. Better communication a nd education might alleviate some of this anxiety. Economic hardship a ffects certain patient subgroups more than others and may need to be w eighed in the selection process. A more definitive examination of thes e issues is warranted.