Date of Award

Spring 2023

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS)

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

First Advisor

Carr, Kristen

Keywords

home-based cardiac rehabilitation, center-based cardiac rehabilitation, cardiovascular diseases rehabilitation, rural health

Abstract

Cardiac rehabilitation in rural areas can present unique challenges. The main challenge is the locations patients must travel to receive such care. Some patients are expected to travel more then an hour away, on multiple occasions during the week, to undergo therapy. This can be an issue for many patients and something that has been studied and is starting to be addressed in various countries. A literature review was done to see if there was a safe and effective alternative to the traditional center-based cardiac rehabilitation. The electronic search databases PubMed, Embase and CINAHL Complete were utilized to search for articles that addressed the four main topics of the paper: safety and efficacy of center-based cardiac rehab, safety and efficacy of home-based cardiac rehab, keys to successful implementation of home-based cardiac rehab, and projected outcomes of home-based cardiac rehabilitation in rural areas. Dalal et al. (2019) found that home-based cardiac rehabilitation was as safe and effective as the traditional approach and was a more affordable model. Antoniou et al. (2022) stated that “home-based cardiac rehabilitation interventions using wearable sensors can be as effective as center-based cardiac rehabilitation.” Banner et al. (2015) stated that the patients who underwent home-based cardiac rehabilitation “demonstrated statistically significant improvement in exercise capacity, along with total cholesterol, LDL and saturated fat intake,” to that of the traditional approach. Overall, home-based cardiac rehabilitation could be a safe and effective alternative to the center-based approach and is something that should be researched further.

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