Loading...
Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) for patients with acute cardiovascular disease (CVD) is effective in modifying CVD risk factors and lowering cardiac-related mortality, but referral and follow-through rates are often low. To assess the effectiveness of various referral strategies, Canadian investigators recruited 2635 stable inpatients with recent acute CVD (acute coronary syndromes with percutaneous or surgical coronary artery intervention) from 16 wards at 11 hospitals.
Each ward was committed to using one of four CR referral strategies: (1) automatic electronic referral or standard discharge orders; (2) personal encouragement from a healthcare professional, a CR graduate, or both, in addition to the usual referral process; (3) a combination of…