Effect of an Educational Intervention on Cardiac Patients' Participation Rate in Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs (MECRIS)
Coronary Artery Disease

About this trial
This is an interventional prevention trial for Coronary Artery Disease focused on measuring Intervention, Awareness, Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR), Coronary Artery Patients, Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Surgery (CABG)
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria: Patients undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting with or without valve replacement Exclusion Criteria: Institutionalized patients Patients with severe co-morbidities for whom cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is contra-indicated Patients who sustained a severe surgical complication preventing them from participating in CR (general stroke with severe disability) Patients residing farther than 30 km from a rehabilitation center
Sites / Locations
- Sheba Medical Center, the Gertner institute for epidemiology and health service research
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
No Intervention
Explanation on cardiac rehabilitation
Usual care with no intervention
Intervention: Increasing awareness to cardiac rehabilitation programs: Patients received a written and oral short explanation on the importance and benefits of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) participation, and information on available programs. They were telephoned 2 weeks after hospital discharge to encourage them to enroll at a cardiac rehabilitation program (CRP). In addition, physicians and nurses at the cardiothoracic units participated in a 1-hour seminar on CR. A recommendation to the general physician to refer the patient to CRP was added to the letter of discharge from hospital.
Patients recruited to the study received the usual care without any additional explanation on cardiac rehabilitation, and no effort to increase their awareness or the ward's awareness to cardiac rehabilitation was done.