[Education of heart surgery patients--did it reach the goal?]

To find out how well informed they were about their disease and operation, 104 patients who had undergone aortocoronary bypass surgery (group A) or heart valve replacement (group B) were asked to complete a questionnaire on discharge from the operating hospital and, after patient briefing during in-hospital rehabilitation, again 3 months after the operation. The level of anxiety and presence of depression were also assessed. We found the following percentages of wrongly or inadequately answered questions (the figures in brackets are from the second questionnaire 3 months after the operation): all questions 40 (27), anticoagulation 26 (15), prophylaxis of endocarditis 54 (29), risk factors 21 (21), nutrition 56 (38), exercise 47 (32), anatomy/physiology 35 (21), postoperative course 40 (24). The learning effect was significant (p less than 0.005) for all but the risk factor questions. There were no significant differences between men and women or between group A and group B. With a proportion of 14% (13%) anxiety was a common problem which had subsided by the end of rehabilitation. With percentiles of 3% (5%), depression was rare.