Cardiac Exercise Home Rehab Program

The Heart Fit Clinic Makes Cardiac Rehabilitation Program Accessible to ...

Calgary, Alberta (PRWEB) June 30, 2011

Heeding research-based evidence that immediate access to cardiac rehabilitation reduces illness and death up to 30 percent, this Calgary-based clinic wants to be a global leader in bringing a comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation program into the comfort of a patient's home.

An astounding 70 to 80 percent of eligible patients being treated for heart disease in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom do not receive cardiac rehabilitation after being discharged from the hospital.

Calgary's Heart Fit Clinic is launching its cardiac rehabilitation DVD program to meet the demands of increased wait times, along with inconvenient locations and scheduling of cardiac rehabilitation programs on a global scale. The Heart Fit Clinic are the leaders in cardiac rehabilitation, maintenance and heart attack and stroke prevention. They see people with heart disease or the risk of developing heart disease and help them live happier, healthier and longer.

At this time, the comprehensive seven step program is available in English and will be available in other languages within the year. The seven powerful practices include techniques on how to reverse and prevent heart disease. These practices are on DVD and include a CD workbook to guide you through each practice.

Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death of men and women. After a heart attack it becomes so important to start a cardiac rehabilitation program safely and effectively. Starting a cardiac rehabilitation exercise program within 1 week after a heart attack is where patients will receive the best benefits. With this program, patients can get started immediately after they get out of the hospital and, more importantly, it can be done safely in the comfort of their homes with the Heart Fit Clinic providing confidence to patience with cardiac illness.

This cardiac rehabilitation program provides an excellent opportunity for patients with any stage of heart disease to reverse and prevent heart disease. Diagnosed patients with high risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia (abnormal cholesterol), or obesity will benefit from this cardiac rehabilitation program as it guides the patient carefully through every level of disease. Heart disease is a preventable disease and if diagnosed with high risk factors you are on the path to a cardiovascular event. This DVD program will be the heart disease treatment patients are looking for.

Comparison of hospital-based versus home-based cardiac rehabilitation

Clinical Scenario

At the acute care hospital I am currently doing my clinical rotation, I have had the opportunity to work on the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. On this floor, I have worked with many patients who have undergone open heart surgery. With this, the patients are provided with education including information on Cardiac Rehabilitation Phase II. I have found that many of these patients live over 60 miles from Reno. Many of these same patients do not attend Cardiac Rehabilitation Phase II because of the distance barrier and time commitment to drive over an hour one-way to participate in one hour’s worth of a supervised exercise protocol, since all three of the cardiac rehabilitation centers in northwestern Nevada are in the Reno-Sparks area. This led me to wonder if a home cardiac rehabilitation type program exists for patients following an acute cardiac event to participate in when they live in a more rural setting. This led me to my clinical question of whether there are similar benefits in aerobic capacity and exercise adherence following completion of a cardiac rehabilitation program whether it is home-based or hospital-based.

Overall, both articles closely matched my clinical question comparing exercise capacity and quality of life in both a hospital-based and home-based Cardiac Rehabilitation program following an acute cardiac event. Both articles demonstrated that there was no clinically important difference between groups for exercise capacity. Therefore it is inconclusive as to whether one group (hospital-based or home-based Cardiac Rehabilitation) is more effective in improving exercise capacity for patients who have had an acute cardiac event. Further studies with larger sample sizes and including a wider range of patients following an acute cardiac event need to be done for more conclusive results. At this point, home-based Cardiac Rehabilitation should be considered as an alternate to hospital-based Cardiac Rehabilitation for patients with mild to moderate cardiac risk factors who may have more difficulties attending a hospital program.

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