Methods: A total of 53 patients who underwent CABG surgery in the Cardiology Department of a state hospital affiliated with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Ministry of Health between September 2010 and February 2011 were included in this descriptive and crosssectional study. The data was collected using the “Personal Information” form, the “Problems Experienced by Patients after Discharge” form, and the Turkish version of the Exercise of Self-Care Agency (ESCA) Scale. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS version 15.0 software program. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare the frequency and distribution statistics.

Results: Male participants made up 71.7% (n=38) of the study group while 43.4% (n=23) of the subects were primary school graduates, 83% (n=44) were married, 75.5% (n=40) were overweight, 45.3% (n=24) had undergone triple bypass surgery, and 84.9% (n=45) were connected to a heart-lung machine. After discharge, the patients reported fatigue, dyspnea, pain at the wound site, weakness, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, fear, pessimism, edema in the legs, wound dehiscence, palpitation, and constipation. When patients were asked how they handled these problems, 81.1% (n=43) stated that they simply waited until they were over, 71.7% (n=38) slept sitting up, 66% (n=35) took medication, and 15.1% (n=8) did breathing exercises. The mean selfcare ability score of the patients was 108.5±17, indicating that the patients had a moderate level of self-care ability. It was also found that these problems decreased over time. No statistically significant difference was found between the self-care ability scores and the problems experienced by the patients (p>0.05).

Conclusion: It was found that all patients experienced at least one problem after discharge. Discharge education programs with an interdisciplinary perspective, and consultancy services in conjunction with home care and follow-up should be implemented with an improvement in quality so as to reduce and eliminate the problems faced by the patients.