Background

Patients with mechanical circulatory support devices regularly experience positive and negative emotions which are reinforced through interactions with their device. We explored emotional relationships between patients and their MCS devices through the names they assign to those devices.

Objectives

We sought to characterise device naming and suggest future developments which might capitalise on the naming phenomenon to improve patient wellbeing.

Methods

Qualitative online ethnography extracted comments on device names and emotions from a social media group. Thematic analysis grouped the comments according to their explicit or implied emotions, and their potential consequences for designing future MCS treatment.

Results

Thematic analysis identified 28 codes to characterise the names, from which we inferred 4 main themes for proposed emotional relationships. They centred on humour, coping, improving acceptance for family and friends, and reclaiming agency.

Conclusion

We suggest that by deliberately considering these factors in future research and development, clinicians and device manufacturers have scope to improve patient wellbeing.

中文翻译：

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机械循环支持设备的患者姓名：发展情感洞察力

背景

使用机械循环支持设备的患者会定期体验积极和消极的情绪，这些情绪会通过与他们的设备的互动而得到加强。我们通过患者分配给这些设备的名称探索了患者与其 MCS 设备之间的情感关系。

目标

我们试图表征设备命名并提出可能利用命名现象来改善患者健康的未来发展。

方法

定性在线民族志从社交媒体组中提取了对设备名称和情绪的评论。主题分析根据评论的显性或暗示情绪以及它们对设计未来 MCS 治疗的潜在后果对评论进行分组。

结果

主题分析确定了 28 个代码来表征名称，从中我们推断出拟议的情感关系的 4 个主要主题。他们专注于幽默、应对、提高家人和朋友的接受度以及重新获得代理权。

结论

我们建议，通过在未来的研发中慎重考虑这些因素，临床医生和设备制造商有机会改善患者的健康状况。