Patient names for mechanical circulatory support devices: Developing emotional insights

Patients with mechanical circulatory support devices regularly experience positive and negative emotions which are reinforced through interactions with their device. We explored emotional relationships between patients and their MCS devices through the names they assign to those devices.

We sought to characterise device naming and suggest future developments which might capitalise on the naming phenomenon to improve patient wellbeing.

Qualitative online ethnography extracted comments on device names and emotions from a social media group. Thematic analysis grouped the comments according to their explicit or implied emotions, and their potential consequences for designing future MCS treatment.

Thematic analysis identified 28 codes to characterise the names, from which we inferred 4 main themes for proposed emotional relationships. They centred on humour, coping, improving acceptance for family and friends, and reclaiming agency.

We suggest that by deliberately considering these factors in future research and development, clinicians and device manufacturers have scope to improve patient wellbeing.