Introduction: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a non-surgical invasive procedure to treat coronary artery occlusion. The quality of life (QoL) is a way to measure the impact of illness and additionally its treatments to traditional measures of clinical outcomes. Purpose: The aim of the present study was to explore the levels of QoL pre-PCI, 6 and 12 months after PCI, as well as the factors associated with the QoL pre-PCI. Methods: In the present study, 100 patients undergoing PCI were enrolled. Data were collected through the completion of the SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36), which included participants’ characteristics. The statistical significance level was p < 0.05. Results: Patients had moderate levels of QoL at baseline, with a median general health score of 45 (IQR: 30–65). A gradual statistically significant increase in scores was observed in all subcategories of the patients’ QoL at 6 and 12 months after PCI (p < 0.001). A greater increase in scores was observed in physical functioning, physical role, emotional role and social functionality. In terms of the pre-PCI phase, it was found that physical functionality was statistically significantly associated with educational level (p = 0.005), occupation (p = 0.026) and whether the patients had children (p = 0.041). The physical and emotional role was significantly associated with gender (p = 0.046 and p = 0.040) and educational level (p = 0.030 and p = 0.001). Energy–fatigue was significantly associated with gender (p = 0.001), age (p = 0.028), marital status (p = 0.001), educational level (p = 0.001), whether the patients had children (p= 0.012) and other diseases (p = 0.001). Emotional well-being was significantly associated with family history of coronary artery disease (p = 0.011) and the frequency of physical exercise (p = 0.001). Social functioning was significantly associated with gender (p = 0.033), marital status (p = 0.034) and educational level (p = 0.002). Pain was not found to be significantly associated with patients’ demographics. General health was significantly associated with gender (p = 0.003), age (p = 0.043), educational level (p = 0.001), other diseases (p = 0.005) and the frequency of physical exercise (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Information about the QoL of PCI and its determinants is important to define an effective and comprehensive care plan.

Background: Whilst nurses and critical care services have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more apparent that intensive care nurses are presented with challenging ethical and clinical decisions and are required to care for individuals with critical illnesses under high-pressure conditions. This is not a new phenomenon. The aim of this study, which was conducted before the outbreak of COVID-19, was to explore the experience of caring through the narratives of intensive care nurses in Greece. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nineteen ICU nurses in Athens. Transcripts were subjected to Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis and organised with Atlas.ti v8 QDA software. Results: The intensive care nurses’ experience of caring in Greece encompassed four themes: (A) being “proximal”, “co-present” and caring with empathy, (B) being “responsible” for your patient and negotiating with the doctors, (C) technology and “fighting with all you’ve got”, and (D) “not being kept informed” and disappointment. Conclusions: The narratives of this study highlight that ICU nurses in Greece provide patient-centred and compassionate care. Nurse leaders should develop appropriate healthcare policies so as to ensure the adequate provision of staff, specialist education, and support to nurses working in critical care. Failure to address these issues may lead to poor quality of care and negative patient outcomes.

Although transcatheter aortic valve implantation has emerged as a very attractive treatment option for severe aortic valve disease, surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) is still considered the standard-of-care, particularly in younger patients. However, selecting the appropriate type of valve prosthesis for this patient population can pose challenges. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate morbidity and mortality in patients aged 50–70 years who have undergone a first-time SAVR, and to define and compare the outcomes of mechanical valve (MV) and biological valve (BV) prosthesis. A systematic search was conducted to investigate the clinical outcomes of MVs and BVs in patients aged 50–70 years following the PRISMA guidelines. A total of 16,111 patients were included in the studies with an average follow-up of 10 years. A total of 16 studies were selected, 12 of which included propensity-score-matching (PMS) analysis and 4 of which obtained results via multivariate analysis. The vast majority (13 studies) showed no greater survival benefit in either MVs and BVs, while three studies showed an advantage of MVs over BVs. Regarding complications, bleeding was the most common adverse event in patients undergoing MV replacement, while for patients receiving BV prosthesis, it was structural valve deterioration and reoperation. Although the data suggest that the BV option could be a safe option in patients younger than 70 years, more studies with contemporary data are needed to draw firm conclusions on the risks and benefits of BV or MV in SAVR. Physicians should individualize the surgical plan based on patient characteristics.

Patients with heart failure (HF) and their caregivers are a dyad inextricably linked that exert influence on patients’ quality of life (QoL). Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore factors affecting HF patients’ QoL. Factors were: (a) HF patients’ characteristics, (b) anxiety/depression of the dyad (patient–caregiver) and (c) caregivers’ QoL. Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 340 patients and 340 caregivers. Data collection was performed by the method of an interview using “The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale”, HADS) to assess anxiety and depression (patient–caregiver) as well as the “Minnesota Living with Heart Failure” and the “SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36)” to assess QoL (patient–caregiver, respectively). Results: From the 340 dyads who comprised the sample, 81.3% and 77.5% of patients experienced anxiety and depression, respectively, while 79.3% and 62.2% of caregivers experienced anxiety and depression, respectively. A statistically significant difference between patients and caregivers was only detected for depression (p = 0.001) and not for anxiety (p = 0.567). Patients with scores in HADS that indicate anxiety and depression had a worse QoL (total, physical, and mental). All subscales of the caregiver’s QoL were significantly associated with the patient’s QoL (p < 0.001) apart from the physical functioning scale. The correlation coefficients were all negative, indicating that a better caregiver’s QoL (higher SF36 scores) is associated with a better patient’s QoL (lower Minnesota scores). After controlling for the patient’s characteristics, the anxiety and depression of caregivers did not affect the patient’s QoL (confounding effect) whereas the patient’s anxiety/depression remained significant factors. Patients with anxiety and depression had 5.58 and 6.49 points, respectively, higher QoL score, meaning a worse QoL, compared to those with no anxiety/depression. Conclusions: Evaluating the impact of HF on patients’ QoL and anxiety/depression along with their caregivers permits acknowledgment of this dyadic relationship.

Introduction: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a nonsurgical procedure used in the treatment of coronary heart disease. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to validate a scale created in order to assess the importance and fulfillment of information needs in patients after PCI. Methods: A 10-item scale was created by the researchers to explore the level of information needs and the level of fulfillment of these needs. The total scores have a possible range of 10 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher importance and fulfillment. The validation of the questionnaire included face and content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, repeatability, and discriminant validity. Results: Forty patients contributed to this validation. Mean and median scores for each question separately and also overall scores suggest that patients consider the need to be informed very important and that it was fulfilled to a very high degree (mean scores 39.5 and 39.3, respectively). All questions were found to be significantly correlated with the overall scores (rho > 0.3) meaning strong construct validity. Cronbach’s α coefficients were high (>0.7) indicating great consistency. Both total scores had great repeatability, which suggests a high degree of reliability of the participants' responses (ICCs > 0.8). Regarding discriminant validity, a statistically significant association was observed only between marital status and the degree of fulfillment of the need to be informed (p = 0.036). More specifically, divorced or widowed patients had a lower degree of fulfillment than married patients (mean 38.6 vs. 39.6). Conclusion: It is a reliable instrument that will help clinicians who are at close contact with patients after PCI to gain a better understanding of their needs.

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical syndrome associated with increased disability, morbidity and mortality globally. HF is characterized by recurrent exacerbations and a high rate of hospital readmissions. Self-care is a crucial component of treatment. The way patients assess the importance of self-care may shed light on planning effective individualized interventions. The aim of this study was to conduct a validity and reliability analysis of the new 14-item IPSC scale, which measures how important HF patients consider their physical self-care behavior (IPSC, Importance of Physical Self-Care). Material and Methods: The 14-item IPSC scale was created by the researchers to explore how important HF patients consider their physical self-care behavior. The validation of the IPSC scale included face and content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, repeatability and discriminant validity. Patients’ characteristics were also included. Results: In the present study, 52 hospitalized HF patients were enrolled, of whom 55.8% were female, 34.6% above 70 years old, 48.1% of NYHA class III and 32.7% suffered this illness from 6 to 10 years. The total IPSC score had a possible range of 14–56, with higher scores indicating a low importance of self-care. The descriptive statistics in the IPSC scale showed a mean score of 27.9 ± 4.9 and a median score of 29, indicating that HF patients evaluated self-care behavior as moderately important. All items were found to be statistically significantly correlated with total scale scores (p ≤ 0.05), with correlation coefficients rho > 0.250, indicating moderate to strong correlations and meaning that all items are important in the calculation of the final score (construct validity). The internal consistency of the items that constituted the total score was found to be high (Cronbach’s a > 0.7). Furthermore, it was found that scores had high repeatability (p ≤ 0.001 and ICCs > 0.7). Regarding discriminant validity, a statistically significant association was observed between the importance of physical self-care behavior and both years suffering the illness (p = 0.007) and the NYHA class (p = 0.030). Conclusion: The 14-item IPSC scale is a reliable instrument that help nurses in clinical settings to gain a better and prompt understanding of the importance which patients invest in their physical self-care behavior.