Cardiac Rehab Programs Not Being Utilized
How many of you out there have attended a heart rehabilitation physical therapy program post heart attack or catheterization? I know that each and every program is different although they offer a similar guidelines. I have personally experienced, while working as a cardiac nurse, some great, and I mean great, rehab programs. They were very involved and intense.
Each patient was hooked up to a heart monitor while they rode the bike, elliptical or walked the treadmill. Most patient’s participated in lifting low amounts of weight. And every single rehab patient took a mandatory diet and nutrition class taught by a registered dietitian.
Another plus about the programs that I experienced first hand was the importance of family and friend involvement. It takes a village…
I am always a bit shocked when I find out that post MI and stent patients choose not to attend these types of rehab classes. I usually have just one word… why? Well, this morning as I was searching through the pages of cardiac news, I came upon an article that was written as an informative personal reflection on cardiac rehab programs.
Mr. Lamb, 49 and a post MI patient times 2 made perfect sense…
“We went for the session to a local nursing home and the first thing they did was to offer us coffee and biscuits, which I thought was strange considering I had just had a heart attack and was supposed to be watching my weight.” David said the nurse then started asking him a series of questions, but excluded his wife from the conversation, despite the fact that she had been encouraged to attend. He said the nurse also appeared not to have his medical files and got him to do physical tests that he had already completed and surpassed in hospital.
I might be turned off by this type of experience as well. And even though research is certainly on the side of partaking in the type of rehab program, how can you participate if you feel you are gaining nothing from it, like it is a waist of time? Does there need to be a more universal type of program?
In this particular case the British Heart Foundation launched a program to help facilitate rehab programs as they are effective to say the least…
Research has shown that patients, like David, attending cardiac rehabilitation improve their chances of surviving in the first five years by more than a quarter, at a cost to the NHS of just £600 per patient.
What do you think is the answer? How can we assure that patients get exactly what they need? How was your cardiac rehab experience?
Tags: benefits, cardiac-care, cardiac-rehabilitation, catheterization, heart-attack, heart-cath, mi, rehabRelated Stories
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1 opinion for Cardiac Rehab Programs Not Being Utilized
Cardiac Rehab Programs Not Being Utilized · Treadmill Reviews and Information
Dec 11, 2007 at 6:18 pm
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