Exercise maintenance after supervised cardiac rehabilitation is important in maintaining both physical activity and physiological factors, such as peak and muscle strength (MS), associated with reduced mortality. However, there is no evidence of the effects of unsupervised exercise training and MS training on physical activity and physiological factors after supervised cardiac rehabilitation of...

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Cardiac rehabilitation improves functional status and quality of life after a myocardial infarction (AMI), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). It is currently the recommendation of the National Heart Foundation that all such patients be referred for rehabilitation. Previous pilot data indicate that overall only 22% of patients participat...

Background: After a major cardiovascular event, patients experience many problems regarding the outcome of the disease or rehabilitation including concern about return in their previous life. Recovering from a cardiac event is a complex procedure that presents psychological and physical needs that continue after discharge from hospital. The purpose of this review was to explore the role of nurs...

BACKGROUND There are limited data on sternotomy as a cause of chronic postsurgical pain, mainly restricted to 1 year after surgery. AIMS To assess the prevalence of chronic post-sternotomy pain and its interference on daily living. METHODS In three groups of patients, a standardized telephone interview was obtained at 3 months (n = 313), 1 year (n = 313), and 3 years (n = 319) following the...

STUDY OBJECTIVES The study assessed the interests of ambulatory cardiac patients in advance planning and their willingness to participate in rehabilitation program-based end-of-life education. DESIGN Observational survey study. SETTING Fourteen outpatient cardiac rehabilitation programs in 11 states. PARTICIPANTS Four hundred fifteen subjects enrolled in cardiac rehabilitation. MEASUREM...

Audit and feedback (A&F) is widely used to aid healthcare professionals in improving clinical performance, but there is little understanding of the underlying mechanism that determines its effectiveness. The aim of this paper is to investigate the process by which healthcare professionals select indicators as improvement targets based on A&F. We performed a laboratory study among 41 hea...