Wood KA, et al. - The patient point of view of the first six months following an atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation was investigated in this study. Patients struggled to manage symptoms after AF ablation. A more accurate comprehension of the symptom challenges following AF ablation could lead to the development of more realistic education to improve patient self-management.

Methods

• For this research, they designed a longitudinal pilot study.
• In this study, telephone interviews and questionnaires were used with 20 patients at baseline, at 1, 3, and 6 months after AF ablation.
• By using content analysis, telephone interview data were analyzed.
• Longitudinal outcomes were examined utilizing repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results

• Mean age was 65 ± 7 years.
• In this study, 55% of the participants were female.
• The most concerning symptoms were the severity and duration of fatigue.
• Patient expectations differed from providers' expectations.
• Recovery was a much slower process than patients expected.