To survive out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a search for meaning and coherence.
The primary responsibility of prehospital emergency personnel at out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) is to provide lifesaving care. Ethical considerations, decisions, and actions should be based in the patient's beliefs about health and well-being. In this article, we describe patients' experiences of surviving OHCA. By using a phenomenological approach, we focus on how OHCA influences patients' well-being over time. Nine survivors were interviewed. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is described as a sudden and elusive threat, an awakening in perplexity, and the memory gap as a loss of coherence. Survival means a search for coherence with distressing and joyful understanding, as well as existential insecurity exposed by feelings of vulnerability. Well-being is found through a sense of coherence and meaning in life. The study findings show survivors' emotional needs and a potential for prehospital emergency personnel to support them as they try to make sense of what has happened to them.
Bremer
Anders
A
University College of Borås, Borås, Sweden, and Växjö University, Växjö, Sweden.
Dahlberg
Karin
K
Sandman
Lars
L
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D016019:Survival Analysis; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden; D016896:Treatment Outcome