Illness experience: living with arrhythmia and implantable cardioverter defibrillator

To describe the illness experience of patients living with arrhythmia and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and evaluate their experience after implantation of the device for gaining insight on care suitable for their condition.

In this qualitative descriptive study, we conducted semi-structured interviews of 22 outpatients who were visiting certified implant facilities.

Three categories and seven subcategories emerged from the interviews. The ICD patients were (1) Bewilderment Stemming from Arrhythmia and ICD Implant, (2) Facing the Reality of Arrhythmia, the ICD and Being Able To Continue Life, and (3) Giving Meaning to Living With Arrhythmia and an ICD. The ICD patients first experience bewilderment in the form of [Uncertainty about One's Own Bodies], [Fear of Arrhythmia Ending My Life], and [Dissatisfaction with Unforeseen Results of the ICD]. After discharge from the hospital following ICD implantation, they slowly resumed their own lifestyles and [Facing the Reality of the ICD and Being Able to Continue Life] and [Confirming and Managing Lifestyle Activities]. As they recognized, objectified, and faced changes in their lifestyles, they began to practically see themselves as living with arrhythmia which required ICD-aided treatment, [Giving Meaning to One's Illness] and [Recognition of One's Disease]. And so, they reknit their lives integrated with arrhythmia and an ICD. We expressed these results in a schematic model as "Learning to Live with Arrhythmia and the ICD".

These results can be used to provide a perspective for assessing care to help patients adapt to life after ICD implantation.