Relatives' experiences of everyday life six months after hypothermia treatment of a significant other's cardiac arrest.

Aims And Objectives: To describe relatives' experiences of needing support and information and of the impact on everyday life six months after a significant other survived cardiac arrest treated with therapeutic hypothermia at an intensive care unit.

Background: Being the relative of a cardiac arrest patient has been described as an unexpected chaotic situation. It is a unique experience because the event was unexpected, but also because of the heart disease and the uncertain neurological impact and outcome.

Relatives' experiences during the next of kin's hospital stay after surviving cardiac arrest and therapeutic hypothermia.

Aim: To describe relatives' experiences during the next of kin's hospital stay after surviving a cardiac arrest (CA) treated with hypothermia at an intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: Twenty relatives were interviewed when the person having suffered the CA was discharged from hospital, 1.5 to 6 weeks post-CA.