the real experience and coping styles of emergence delirium in patients after radical lung cancer surgery: A qualitative study

Background This study employs a interpretative phenomenological approach to explore the real experience of emergence delirium (ED) in patients following radical lung cancer surgery, a common and complex postoperative complication in the post-anesthesia care unit.Despite the prevalence and impact of ED in this specific patient population, the real experience of ED has not been extensively explored. There is a paucity of research on the coping mechanisms employed by patients and the support they require. Design Phenomenological study using half-standardized interviews. Methods Interpretive phenomenological research methods were used to interview postradical lung cancer patients with ED in a tertiary-level hospital in Sichuan Province through purposive sampling, and the Colaizzi 7-step analysis method was utilized to conduct a thorough analysis of the interview data. Results Nine of the 15 interview subjects were male and six were female. After analyzing the interview content, five main themes and 15 subthemes were distilled: profound experience of perceptual disorders in the face of ED, positive and negative emotions in the face of ED, various strategies for managing ED, outcomes of experiencing ED, and the need for healthcare management in the face of ED. Conclusion It is necessary to pay attention to the symptoms and needs of ED that occur in patients after radical lung cancer surgery, and healthcare staff should actively monitor and take measures to actively respond to them, help patients improve their self-coping skills, reduce the incidence of ED, mitigate cognitive impairment, strengthen medical support, and promote the early recovery of patients. Trail registration This study was approved by the ethics committee of the affiliated hospital of southwest medical university, with the approval number: KY2024439.