cardiac

Cardiac Rehabilitation

What is cardiac rehabilitation?

Cardiac rehabilitation is a physician-supervised program for people who have either a congenital (present at birth) or acquired heart disease. Cardiac rehabilitation can often improve function, reduce symptoms, and improve the well-being of the patient. About 10 to 15 percent of patients seeing a physiatrist suffer from some form of heart disease.

What conditions can benefit from cardiac rehabilitation?

Some of the conditions or procedures that may benefit from cardiac rehabilitation may include, but are not limited to, the following:

congestive heart failure
angina pectoris
heart attack (myocardial infarction)
post-open heart surgery
post-heart transplantation
angioplasty
implanted pacemaker
congenital heart disease
arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms)

The cardiac rehabilitation team:

Cardiac rehabilitation programs can be conducted on an inpatient or outpatient basis. Many skilled professionals are part of the cardiac rehabilitation team, including any/all of the following:

cardiologist/cardiovascular surgeon
physiatrist
internist
rehabilitation nurse
dietitian
physical therapist
occupational therapist
exercise physiologist
social worker
psychologist/psychiatrist
recreational therapist
case manager
chaplain
vocational counselor

The cardiac rehabilitation program:

A cardiac rehabilitation program is designed to meet the needs of the individual patient, depending upon the specific heart problem or disease. Active involvement of the patient and family is vital to the success of the program.

The goal of cardiac rehabilitation is to help the patient return to the highest level of function and independence possible, while improving the overall quality of life - physically, emotionally, and socially. These goals are often met by:

decreasing cardiac symptoms and complications.
encouraging independence through self-management.
reducing hospitalizations.
improving social, emotional, and vocational status.

In order to help reach these goals, cardiac rehabilitation programs may include the following:

medication management to help reduce cardiac symptoms, complications, and hospitalizations
exercise programs to help build fitness and improve endurance
methods to improve independence and activities of daily living (ADLs)
patient and family education and counseling
smoking cessation
nutritional counseling
stress management and emotional support

Research done on cardiac rehabilitation programs has found them to benefit patients in the following ways:

improve cardiac symptoms
reduce blood cholesterol levels
reduce cigarette smoking
improve psychosocial well-being and reduce stress
reduce death due to heart disease

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