To Survive Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Search for Meaning and Coherence

Abstract

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.

Information-hungry and disempowered: A qualitative study of women and their partners' experiences of severe postpartum haemorrhage

“…These features are shared with other extreme emergency situations (O'Brien and Fothergill-Bourbonnais, 2004;Bremer et al, 2009aBremer et al, , 2009b) but here interviewees were especially affected by their confluence with specific features of their PPH experience; involuntary separation and exclusion of partners, anxiety about newborns and their future, and difficulties in caring for babies for women still in recovery.…”

Psychological wellbeing in survivors of cardiac arrest, and its relationship to neurocognitive function

“…Exploring strategies that enable a positive outlook may be useful in helping patients who require additional post-arrest psychological support. 24 …”

Meanings of People’s Lived Experiences of Surviving an Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest, 1 Month After the Event

“…A study by Doolittle and Sauvé 16 explored the impact of aborted sudden cardiac death on survivors and determined that survivors focus on their prearrest lives and wish to return to the meaningful activities they previously pursued. Another study 17 describes that OHCA survivors find well-being through a search for a sense of coherence and meaning in a changed life.…”