Patients’ Knowledge Regarding Cardiac Catheterization at Cardiac Specialty Hospital in Slemani City Iraq: A Descriptive Study

Abstract
Background: Cardiac catheterization (CC) is the inserting of a thin, hollow catheter into a chamber or vessel; it is done for diagnostic and intervention purposes. Death charges from coronary heart disease have decreased in recent decennium, however, coronary heart disease is still a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide especially in developed countries. Coronary heart disease refers to different conditions of failing circulation of the heart and includes myocardial infarction (MI). In this study, we assessed the patients’ knowledge regarding CC. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted with a purposive sample of 250 patients were selected and included from Cardiac Specialty Hospital in Slemani City, Iraq. This study was carried out between November 2017 and October 2018. A self-conductive questionnaire was used for data collection. Results: Totally 250 patients were included in this study. Among 250 patients, 176 (70.4%) were males and 74 (29.6%) females. The validity of the questionnaire was estimated through a panel of experts related to the field of the study, and its reliability was determined through a pilot study which was carried out on 105 patients who were selected purposively from the patient were admitted those who have undergone the procedure at Cardiac Specialty Hospital in Slemani city. Most 70.4% of the participants were male and the majority 212 (84.8%) were Kurdish and more than a quarter of the patient’s age was in group 60 years and above. Among 250 patients, 202 (80.8%) were married and 117 (46.8 %) of study participants were illiterate, 171 (68.4%) of them were unemployed, and 148 (59.2%) were lived in an urban area. Conclusion: Our present study showed that the majority of participants had a low level of knowledge regarding CC as well as the level of knowledge from post-CC was higher than pre-CC procedure. Key Words: patients’ Knowledge, cardiac catheterization, pre and post-cardiac catheterization, Slemani City, Iraq