Overview

This strategy, prepared by the National Heart, Stroke and Vascular Health Strategies Group, aims to provide a blueprint for improving the cardiovascular health of Australians and reducing the prevalence of heart, stroke and vascular disease. It is intended to guide the National Health Priority Action Council, its member organisations and other key organisations in driving improvements in health services, with the goal of delivering better health outcomes through the National Health Priority Initiative in Cardiovascular Health.

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Best practice guidelines for cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention

About the guidelines

The Best Practice Guidelines for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention is a 238 page book published by the Department of Human Services in April 1999 and produced by the Heart Research Centre. A 14 page Synopsis was published at the same time.

The ‘Best Practice Guidelines for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention’ concern exercise training, education, counselling and behavioural interventions, as well as key organisational issues relevant to the delivery and evaluation of services. The ‘Guidelines’ provide evidence and consensus based recommendations for best practice programs. The document is not intended to be a practical manual on how to set up and conduct programs.

Contents of document

• Development of the Best Practice Guidelines
• Cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention: definitions
• Cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention: historical background
• The burden of cardiovascular disease
• Recent practice guidelines and policy statements
• Review of Clinical Practice Guideline No 17 ‘Cardiac Rehabilitation’ (1995) US Agency for Health Care Policy and Research
• Exercise training in cardiac rehabilitation
• The benefits of exercise training
• The amount of exercise training
• Risk stratification
• Conducting exercise programs
• Exercise programs for specific groups
• Education, counselling and behavioural interventions
• Content of education and counselling groups
• Structural aspects of group education and counselling programs
• Programs for specific groups
• Cardiac rehabilitation teams
• Organisational issues
• Program evaluation
• Outcome evaluation
• Cost, cost saving and cost effectiveness
• Recommendations for future research

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Further information