Psychosocial issues affecting adults with congenital heart disease: one patient's perspective.
This article addresses a number of psychosocial issues that advance practice nurses and other health care providers should be aware of when working with patients who have congenital heart disease. If not properly addressed, particularly during adolescence, these issues can have a strong impact on a person's medical care and over-all quality of life. This article includes information from medical literature, conversations with adult patients, and my own experiences as both a patient with congenital heart disease and as a clinical social worker.
Livecchi
Tracy A
TA
Ahmanson-UCLA Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center, Division of Cardiology, 47-123 CHS, David Geffin School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. tracy.livecchi@verizon.net
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services; D014481:United States