Cardiac Rehabilitation - Essay Example

The procedure, however convenient it may seem, results to back pain and discomfort due to the length of immobile bed rest so that complications such as bleeding may be prevented. There have been many efforts to improve the situation and many nurse researchers have come up with studies that testify to the possibility of shorter length of immobility and methods that further shorten hospital stay. Other concerns were also investigated including the personal side of the issue as viewed from the eyes of the patient.

In this literature review, we present almost a timeline of published studies and see the many developments in cardiac rehabilitation with regards to post procedure care and treatment. The types of scholarship included here maybe empirical, theoretical, critical/analytic, or methodological in nature. This literature review seeks to describe, summarize, evaluate, clarify or integrate the content of primary reports. When we are dealing with the care of those who have experienced Percutaneous Corornary Intervention (PCI) and other cardiac rehabilitation procedures, we find it necessary to discuss how much bed rest is needed as to ensure the path to recovery and health of the patient.

The main disadvantage of PTCA as compared to open heart surgery. and the associated post-procedure anticoagulation therapy require remaining in a supine position and long bed rest which took almost 24 hours post procedure. A study by Gulanick and colleagues (1997) detailed the angioplasty experience of patients. By conducting focus-group interviews on 45 patients, they were able to determine the feedback regarding hospital experience, home recovery process, restenosis concerns, need for health information, facilitators/barriers for reductions of risk factors and suggestions for nursing interventions to facilitate recovery.

What they found out to be the most pressing concern was the back and leg discomfort from remaining in a supine position for too long. The participants suggested many nursing interventions such as bed exercise, use of an air mattress, back rubs and early walking.2.3 Length of Bed Rest There have been several studies conducted on how to lessen the discomforts regarding bed rest. Vaught and Ostrow (2000) provided a thorough overview of past studies regarding this concern in their article "Bed rest after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty: How much is enough" As this is the case, we mention some of the studies that were discussed in the article.

The reader is made aware of the fact that the studies to be mentioned are not the work of the author per se but a collection of studies by different researchers.With regards to how much time is needed for bed rest after PTCA, the mailed cross sectional survey of Peet and colleagues (1995) of 35 hospitals in Canada (30 responded) indicated that almost 75% of the hospitals were practicing a maximum of 8 hours of length of bed rest. Fowlow and colleagues (1995) conducted a research study to determine whether their institution's standard 8 hours of bed rest could