Abstract
Objective: To find the reasons for delay in seeking medical-care among patients with Myocardial Infarction symptoms.
Method: Participants of this cross-sectional descriptive study consisted of 150 patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction . They referred to Kermanshah Shahid Beheshti Heart Hospital in the west of Iran at least 30 minutes after the onset of Myocardial Infarction symptoms. Data collection was via structured questionnaire and patient medical charts.
The results: The results showed that most of the patients (74%) arrived at the hospital after two hours. There were significant differences between gender, job, smoking, employment status, place of symptoms onset, and delay time (p<0.05). More than 70% of respondents reported that the attribution of symptoms to other problems and misunderstanding of Myocardial Infarction symptoms had a moderate to high effect on their delay time. Nearly 55.3% of participants prayed or hoped that signs or symptoms would go away, while 20.7% tried to be relaxed and none of them asked for medical-care as a first reaction.
Conclusion: Interventions to decrease pre-hospital delay must focus on improving public awareness of Acute Myocardial Infarction symptoms and increasing their knowledge on early response and treatment benefits.
