Background:

Open heart surgery often implies a threat to life and is associated with fear and anxiety. It is also a strong encroachment on body and integrity and adjusting life afterwards could be difficult. Despite improvements in treatment the patients' reactions appear to be unchanged. Introducing a lifeworld perspective would supply a different kind of knowledge based upon the patients' own experiences coloured by their linguistic usage and bodily expressions.

Aim:

The aim of this study was to describe patients' experiences of open heart surgery in a lifeworld perspective.

Method:

Fourteen patients treated with coronary artery bypass surgery and/or heart valve operation were in-depth interviewed in 2003. The phenomenological method was used for the interviews as well as for the analysis. The informants reflected on their experiences of the illness, meetings with health care, family relations and wishes for the future.

Findings:

The essence of the phenomenon was fragility. Fragility was understood through the following categories: distance, uncertainty, vulnerability, reliance and gratitude.

Conclusions:

Patients want to be treated as unique individuals. They ask for more dialogues with the staff. Awareness of their supposed lifelong fragility implies that health care staff acquires an open and holistic approach.