Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Cardiac Rehabilitation: Impact on Health Care

Overview

Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) programs are a multidisciplinary process aimed at patient recovery after an acute cardiovascular event or with chronic heart disease, reducing mortality and morbidity, optimising functional capacity and improving quality of life. The aim is to maintain or recover the patient's clinical, physical and psychosocial condition, slowing down or halting the progression of the underlying disease process. It is based on the practice of personalized physical exercise and the adaptation of behaviours towards a healthier lifestyle, ensuring the reduction and control of risk factors. It is considered a cost-effective intervention that is explicitly and formally recommended by the most diverse and important scientific societies. Through the partnership and collaboration between the various health institutions and the academy, the CR program will take place on an outpatient basis, in a supervised manner, starting after risk stratification with a stress test and respective clinical assessment by a cardiologist. The coordinator of the CR program will be a cardiologist, and the entire multidisciplinary team will be responsible for effectiveness and safety, as well as patient assessment and progress.

The outpatient CR program is designed for a group of participants who have had a cardiac event, based on the American College of Sports Medicine's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, consisting of two exercise sessions/week. The sessions are supervised by a healthcare professional specialising in cardiac rehabilitation, and the participant's haemodynamic status is monitored continuously using scales and electronic equipment. PROMs will be applied before and after the program.