News
Heart Care - Study into patient's opinions on two important hospital procedures
8th March 2010
This study asks people with circulatory problems, a heart condition or a possible heart condition, for their opinions on two common but important hospital procedures that doctors use in the treatment of heart problems — angiogram and angioplasty [for an explanation of the meaning of the two terms, see the bottom of this page]. People giving their opinions to the study will be totally anonymous.
The study hopes to find out what choices of treatment, what standards of services and what quality of care are being given to people in the UK who have circulatory problems and who have experienced one or other of the two medical procedures. At the moment, very little solid information is known across the UK about the experiences of these people.
The study is being conducted by PatientView (a research/publishing company dedicated to raising awareness of patients’ views), and is being sponsored by an educational grant from St Jude Medical (a worldwide medical-devices manufacturer specialising in heart care).
Your experiences, passed to the study, could help future patients. The study results will be sent to all patient groups that help to publicise the study. The results will also allow doctors (and manufacturers like St Jude) to understand far more about the wants and needs of the people who have to have an angiogram or an angioplasty.
How to offer your views to this study
If you would like to offer your opinions to this study, you can fill out a short questionnaire. The questionnaire has only 12 simple questions, and will probably take at most 15 minutes of your time to complete (depending on how many comments you wish to make).
The study’s closing date is Monday 29th March 2010 (but PatientView would welcome your opinions before then, in order to draw up some initial trends).
Please click here to complete the survey.
If you have any questions about this study, please contact:
Louise Oatham, PatientView, Woodhouse Place, Upper Woodhouse, Knighton, Powys, LD7 1NG, UK.
Tel: 01547-520-965 e-mail: info@patient-view.com
Angiogram (sometimes called an angiography)
This is a test that shows doctors whether your heart arteries have been worryingly narrowed by a build-up of fatty deposits. A special dye that can be seen in an x-ray picture is injected into your body through a small tube (called a catheter). The tube is placed into a blood vessel in your groin or your wrist. Then an X-ray picture is taken of the arteries of your heart. The dye visible in the arteries gives doctors information about the health of the arteries.
Angioplasty
This is a treatment for the blocking or narrowing of the arteries of your heart. The treatment begins when tube
s are placed into your blood system through a small cut in your groin or wrist. The tubes carry tiny balloons or scaffolds (called stents). When inflated, the balloons flatten any fatty material that might have built up inside the main blood vessels (arteries). The space that has now been opened up in the blood vessels allows a healthier amount of blood to reach the heart.
