Iran Journal of Nursing

  The aim of this cross sectional study is the assessment of physical and psychosocial problems of patients with pacemaker and effects of social - individual factors (such as age, sex, marital status, level of education,....) on the intensity of problems. In the study 60 patients (27 women, 33 men) that their mean age was 60.07 years, were studied. Sampling was purposive and the samples were selected from patients with inclusion criteria who had come to the outpatient heart clinic in the Hospitals of Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Tehran . Data collection was carried out with a questionnaire and then data was analyzed. Results of present study showed that the main physical problems of patients were fatigue, dyspnea, palpitation and vertigo. Also 11.67% of patients had an infection or skin disorder in the pacemaker site which is much more than similar studies. It should be noted that infections can lead to more serious problems . Also the results showed that major social problems of these patients were problem of access to health care centers, job loss, performing job responsibilities, providing cost of living and cost of treating. Also main psychological problems were concern about the possibility of running out of battery and failure of the pacemaker, injury to pacemaker, disability in doing exercise and their favorite activities. Data analysis showed that there was a relationship between physical and psychosocial problems and with increasing problems in any dimension problems in other dimensions will increase. Finally at the end of article, applications of research finding have been discussed in nursing.