Effect of an Educational Intervention on Cardiac Patients' Participation Rate in Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs

Overview

The main aim of the study is to determine the effectiveness of an educational intervention designed to increase attendance of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients at Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) on actual CRP participation rate and; examine patient-related factors (demographic, health, psychosocial, awareness) influencing patients' attendance at CRPs. We hypothesized that the proportion of CABG patients participating in CRPs will increase significantly to 20-30% following the educational intervention employed.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of disability and economic burden in western societies. Ample evidence exists to suggest that participation of these patients in structured Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) is beneficial in terms of improved prognosis and quality of life. Despite inclusion of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in the Medical Insurance Basket (MIB) as a treatment for patients after an acute myocardial infarction (MI), for those after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and more recently for patients suffering from congestive heart failure, only a small proportion (5%-7.5%) of patients take part in CRPs in Israel. Several factors have been identified as barriers to CRP in Israel, two of which are lack of patients motivation to participate in CRPs stemming, in part, from lack of awareness regarding the importance of CR and its availability and; Lack of motivation of medical staff to refer patients to CR resulting from a unawareness of the importance of CR and its availability across Israel, to name a few. The present study accords with such recommendations, by proposing a simple intervention designed to improve patients' and medical staff's awareness to the importance of CR participation. It is expected that CRP participation will significantly increase to 20-30% following the educational intervention employed. This intervention will provide the basis for the implementation of an intervention to increase CRP participation in cardiac patients at a national level. In addition to increasing the proportion of CABG patients attending at CRPs, the study aims to measure the effect of CRP participation on subsequent 1-year health and behavior related outcomes, and 3-year mortality. We expect to find differences in outcome measures between participating patients and those who do not.

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes