I bakgrunden förklaras att årligen drabbas ett stort antal människor av hjärtinfarkt. Sjukdomen inträffar ofta plötsligt och påverkar stora delar av patientens liv. Det är viktigt att som sjuksköterska ha kunskap kring hur patienten upplever sjukdomen för att kunna ge vård utifrån ett patientperspektiv. Syftet med studien var därmed att beskriva hur patienter upplever att ha drabbats av hjärtinfarkt. Metoden är en litteraturbaserad studie där kvalitativ forskning analyserats. Resultatet sammanställdes i fyra olika teman: Ett förändrat och hotat liv, rädslan för en ny hjärtinfarkt, Livsstilsförändringars påverkan på stress och välbefinnande samt känslan av sårbarhet och brist på individanpassad vård. Livet efter en hjärtinfarkt upplevdes som förändrat. Patienterna såg inte på sig själv och sin kropp på samma sätt som tidigare. Betydelsen av stöd ansågs som viktigt i återhämtningsprocessen, dock sågs sjukvårdens stöd stundtals som bristande. Vissa patienter upplevde förändringarna i livet som positiva och som vägen till ett förbättrat liv. Slutsatsen är att upplevelserna tiden efter hjärtinfarkten är individuella, därmed bör vården vara individanpassad för att uppnå så bra vård som möjligt. Vården bör fokusera på att hjälpa patienterna att hantera vardagliga situationer. / In the background it is explained that every year a large number of people suffer from a heart attack. The disease often occurs very sudden and affects the patients life in many ways. As a nurse it’s very important to have knowledge about how the patient experiences the disease and to be able to give the right treatment from a patient perspective. The purpose with this study was by that to describe how patients experience to have suffered a heart attack. The method is a literature based study where qualitative research has been analyzed. The result was then complied into four different themes, A changed and threatened life, the fear of another heart attack, lifestyle changes impact on stress and well-being and the sense of vulnerability and lack of individualized care The life after a heart attack was seen as altered. Patients did not look at themself and there body in the same way as before. The importance of support was considered significant in the recovery process, though the support provided by health care was sometimes vied as insufficient. Some patients experienced the changes in life as positive and as the road to a new improved life. The conclusion is that the experiences from the time after a heart attack is individual and thereby should the healthcare be adapted for individuals to achieve as good healthcare as possible. The healthcare should focus on helping the patients dealing with everyday situations.

Abstract Aim of the study: Aim of the study was to investigate whether there were any connections in time between different parts of care in patients with cardiac arrest and hypothermia treatment and cognitive and physical function six months after cardiac arrest and to investigate neurological outcome related to primary registered cardiac arrest rhythm after six months and if there were any changes in cognitive and physical functions as well as self-related health between discharge from hospital and six months after cardiac arrest. Method: The study included 39 patients admitted to three Swedish hospitals between 2008-2011. Cognitive and physical function was evaluated with Cerebral Performance Cathegory, CPC completed with Mini Mental State Examination, MMSE for cognitive function and Bartels Index, BI for physical function and Euroqol-VAS for evaluating the self-related health. Result:  A significant connection was shown between time to start hypothermia treatment and BI, patients with longer time showed improved physical function after six months. Majority of the participants (66,7 %) had Ventricular fibrillation/Ventricular tachycardia, VF /VT, as primary registered cardiac arrest rhythm and in this group CPC and BI was significant better compared with the asystole /Pulsless Electrical Aktivity, PEA group. CPC, MMSE, BI and Euroqol-VAS were all improved over time. Conclusion: Participants with VF /VT as primary registered cardias arrest rhythm had significant better cognitive and physical function 6 months after hypothermia-treated cardiac arrest compared with participants with asystole/PEA as primary registered rhythm. This shows the importance of access to defibrillators in public places in the society and in hospitals and optimal education of lay people and medical staff. Cognitive and physical function and self-rated health improves over time, which might be a very important reason to convey patients, relatives and medical staff to continue cognitive and physical rehabilitation.   Keywords: Cardiac arrest, hypothermia, cognitive and physical function, wellbeeing