Information for Patients with Permanent Pacemaker

Pacemakers are battery-powered electronic devices which implanted or not to the patient, function to replace successfully the heart rhythm when the heart is unable to contract temporaly or permanently. The use of this device contributed significantly to the therapy of cardiac rhythm.
AIM : The purpose of the present study was to register the incidence of the symptoms related to the disease, the postoperative complications, as well as the activities that should be avoided and to evaluate the degree that the patient is informed after the implantation of permanent cardiac pacemaker for its good function.
MATERIAL AND METHOD: The sample study included 68 patients who had undergone implantation of permanent cardiac pacemaker to the departments of the hospital «Evagelismos» and «Tzanio». The data were collected by the completion of anonymous questionnaire during personal interview with the researcher.
RESULTS: From the 68 patients studied, percentage of 55,9% were men and 44,1% were women. Regarding to the occupa-tional status, the larger part of the studied population were pensioners, to percentage 63,2% and regarding to the educational status, percentage 42,6% were of primary school. After the implantation of permanent cardiac pacemaker, percentage of 27,9% had no symptoms, with diziness to be the symptom with the higher incidence among the manifestated-symptoms to percentage 16,2%. Regarding to the complicat-ions, 61,8% manifestated no complication but among the manifestated-complications the removal of the lead from the correct position was that of higher incidence, to percentage 33,3%.
CONCLUSION: Complete information and education of the patients after the implantation of permanent cardiac pacemaker as well as proper nursing interventions consist a nursing demand, so as to be insured the compliance of the patient

Keywords: permanent pacemaker, complications, symptomatology, information needed to the patients