We have successfully published our Survey

Dear member,

Many of you may recall that we ran a survey between June 2021 and December 2021 on post operative pain following a cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED).  I am delighted to tell you that we have managed to get our survey published in The British Journal of Cardiology (The BJC) and I attach a link to the published article below.  The BJC is a unique peer-reviewed publication linking primary and secondary care. It provides an important bridge for hospital doctors and primary care health professionals with an interest in cardiology to share knowledge.

Our survey found there was a need for better pain management, better physician support and for more realistic information to be given to patients at the time of their implant.  I hope that the key messages in our survey will be acknowledged by medical professionals and that in the future those of us who suffer acute or chronic pain following a CIED will be given the help they need.

I wish to thank Pacemaker Club member Dr Selwyn Brendon Goldthorpe for patiently collecting and analysing the survey data and presenting it in a format that was acceptable to The BMJ and of course I wish to thank each one of you most sincerely for completing the Survey, without which none of this would have been possible.  I am also grateful for the help received from Admin of the Pacemaker Club and from Admin of the Facebook Pacemaker and ICD support groups for their permission to run this survey. 

Further research into the problems of chronic and severe pain that can be associated with these procedures would indeed be helpful.  I hope that the findings in this survey will help to improve your future care.

Please copy and paste the following Survey link into your main general browser to open:-

https://bjcardio.co.uk/2022/07/pain-after-pacemaker-icd-implants/

11 Comments

This must be a first for the Pacemaker Club .

by IAN MC - 2022-08-21 09:55:28

Well done to Selwyn and Gemita....... in such a reputable journal too !

Only good can come from this increased awareness of the extent of post-implant pain .

Ian

Congrats & thanks

by Daedalus - 2022-08-21 10:21:06

Thank you for your efforts in getting this important information disseminated!  And nice to see you getting credit in the acknowledgments.  👏🏽👏🏽

🎉🥳👏🏼🙌🏼

by Lavender - 2022-08-21 10:50:08

Your gentle, intelligent and selfless dedicated efforts, Gemita, are what brings attention to the world of pacemaker recipients and their ongoing concerns. Dr Selwyn Brendon Goldthorpe, your work continues to guide professionals like yourself to seek higher levels of care. Much gratitude to you both for shining a spotlight for the world to see!

This question really stuck with me-indeed why is there such a need for a support group wherein members help one another? If, miraculously, there were no complications or ongoing trauma from CIED implants, we truly wouldn't need to uphold one another. Perhaps your research and this article will lead to better solutions in the future. Kudos! 🥂
 

The responses obtained are from a group of CIED recipients finding the need for self-support. We should, as healthcare professionals, ask why this form of support is needed?

Congratulations!!!

by Marybird - 2022-08-21 12:46:54

And many kudoes to both Gemita and Dr. Selwyn Goldthorpe, for all the hard work that made this publication possible! 

Thank you!

by Good Dog - 2022-08-21 12:57:02

Both Gemita and Dr. Selwyn have provided thoughtful, well informed, educated and compassionate responses to so many in need (including myself) for a very long time here on the Pacemaker Club site! With regard to the publication of this article, all I can say is; wow! I am grateful to both of you and those that may have assisted with all of the extra effort involved in the bringing to fruition the eventual publication in the Journal. There is no doubt that you have helped more people than you will ever know!

Thank You!

Sincerely,

Dave

published survey

by new to pace.... - 2022-08-21 13:05:02

I to want to thank both  Gemita and Dr. Selwyn for  all their hard work in getting this published in the British Journal.   Now the medical professional's will know how we feel.

Thanks again.

new to pace

 

 

Thank you!

by Aberdeen - 2022-08-21 14:43:20

Thank you Gemita and Dr Selwyn for your all your hard work and being published in British journal of Cardiology!

I have found this site very helpful and supportive over the last couple of years and the advice given by Gemita and others invaluable!

 

So proud of what we have achieved

by Gemita - 2022-08-21 16:44:36

Thank you all for your kind words.  Yes I am really proud of what we have achieved and we have all had a part to play, let us not forget that.  It is good to see our comments published and they may come as a wake up call for some health professionals.  I wasn’t sure whether the survey would actually get published at one time - there was such a long checklist to go through before submission and changes to our presentation had to be made.   If I am honest, it is pretty amazing too, to know that my name will forever be in the British Journal of Cardiology.  Cannot still quite believe that.

But I agree, we should be asking why some CIED recipients still need to seek support from groups such as these following their implants.  Healthcare professionals should be asking why this form of support is still needed? 

 

Well Done!

by Grateful Heart - 2022-08-22 00:06:19

Congratulations and thank you to Selwyn and Gemita.  You should indeed be proud!

More information and insight can only be helpful for the medical community and potential future patients.

Grateful Heart

Woohoo!!!

by MinimeJer05 - 2022-08-22 17:19:24

Congrats!!!

Awesome achievement!

Woohoo indeed!!

by Gemita - 2022-08-23 05:46:57

Thank you Grateful Heart and MinimeJer05.  We have all certainly achieved what we set out to achieve, particularly since some of us doubted, including myself that this would be accepted by a scholarly journal.  I feel this issue is vastly under-reported and needs to be addressed, so we have made a good start

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