Abstract
Aims and objectives. To explore the information needs of Yemeni patients who have undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery before hospital discharges and to examine the differences in the patients' learning needs according to age, gender, level of education and working condition. Background. Postcoronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients need more information before their discharge from the hospital. This need of information must be assessed and provided for them before their discharge from hospital to help them with adequate care and recovery at home. Design. A descriptive, correlational design. Methods. Data were collected from 120 CABG patients before their discharge from Al- Thawra Hospital, Sana'a, Yemen, by using modified Cardiac Patients Learning Needs Inventory (CPLNI) instrument. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyse the collected data. Results. The information about chest and leg wound care, medication information, other pertinent information and complications were indicated to be the most valued by CABG patients prior to discharge. There was a statistically significant difference between patients' total learning needs according to their socio-demographic characteristics. Male patients needed more information than female patients (p=0 center dot 004). Younger (p=0 center dot 021) and middle-aged (p=0 center dot 032) patients needed more information than older ones. Highly educated (p=0 center dot 000) and school-level (p=0 center dot 002) patients needed more information than those in the uneducated group. Working patients needed more information than non-working ones (p=0 center dot 000). Conclusion. This study suggests that CABG patients have high information needs within 2448hours before hospital discharge. In addition, the results of this study showed that there are statistically significant differences in patients' learning needs according to their demographic characteristics. Relevance to clinical practice. Assessment of CABG patients' information needs before their discharge from hospital helps in developing effective educational programme that will help these patients in their recovery at home.