TORONTO, December 10, 2009 -- Innovative strategies to refer people to cardiac rehabilitation services after they have survived a heart attack or undergone a cardiac procedure could significantly increase enrolment in these life-saving programs, York University researchers have concluded.
Their systematic review of more than 20 studies about how patients are referred to cardiac rehabilitation appears online in Nature Reviews Cardiology, a clinical journal from the publishers of the scientific journal Nature.
Cardiac rehabilitation programs − in which patients are evaluated medically, directed to exercise and to modify cardiac risk factors, and are provided with education and counseling − have been shown to reduce death by 25 per cent in patients, compared to standard care following a cardiac event. Despite this, and although heart disease is the leading cause of death and disability in North America, only 15 or 20 per cent of cardiac patients make use of the programs.
The research review shows the most effective way to boost enrolment in the programs is to use a combination of an automatic referral system and a personalized discussion between a healthcare provider and a patient. It concludes this combination of referral strategies could boost enrolment in cardiac rehabilitation programs to as much as 70 per cent of all eligible patients.
“Standard discharge orders are really effective in prompting doctors to make the referral, and then having a bedside chat with patients helps them to understand why it is so important and what it's all about so they ultimately enrol,” said Sherry Grace, an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York. Grace, an expert on cardiac rehabilitation programs, supervised the review of research by York University PhD student Shannon Gravely-Witte.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 Faculties and 28 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
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Media Contact:
Janice Walls, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x 22101, wallsj@yorku.ca
