Cardiac rehabilitation research is helping to improve the quality of life for heart surgery patients
Innovative research at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) found that a 'hybrid' approach to treating patients recovering from heart attacks or heart surgery led to an 85% improvement in quality of life for patients taking part in the study.
Led by UHDB colleague, Charlotte Smith, a senior cardiac rehab exercise specialist at Queen's Hospital Burton (QHB), the study used both digital health technology and hospital-based care to deliver a personalised experience for recovering patients in a cost-effective way.
Charlotte joined the Trust in 2007 after working as a Fitness Instructor and said she always had an interest in higher education, but never took the leap due to work and family commitments.
When the opportunity came up to start a master's course in cardiovascular health and rehabilitation at Chester University, Charlotte applied alongside another colleague and was successful. Together they completed a significant piece of research into how patients access and respond to cardiac rehabilitation services and Charlotte is now implementing the learning here at UHDB, benefitting patients across Staffordshire.
Keen to do research that would impact those accessing the cardiac rehabilitation service at the Trust, Charlotte conducted a randomised trial of the patients within the service at QHB, which saw them given rehabilitation using either traditional hospital-based sessions, a free digital health application called 'My heart', or a combination of both.
The study recruited 57 patients between 50-70 years of age who were randomly put into three groups to find out whether they improved their cardiovascular health through exercise such as increasing their walking speed and if any of the methods helped improve their quality of life, or their anxiety around hospitals.
Charlotte said: "We targeted that age group because we felt they were less inclined to use digital technology and we wanted to see how they engaged with it. We used our existing patients and allowed anyone who was referred to us the chance to do the eight-week programme. We were able to integrate it into our normal work and we didn’t have to recruit any extra people to help us."
Charlotte said she was surprised by how many of the recruits embraced the digital offer, which allowed them to look at information in their own time and view educational videos, but the majority of patients were still keen to have face-to-face treatment, showing that 'one size doesn't fit all.'
Furthermore, a health-related quality of life questionnaire, which patients completed during the course of the rehab showed that 85% of them saw improvements to their overall quality of life which Charlotte said was 'really encouraging' and inspired her team to look at ways in which they could use the findings to incorporate positive changes to the service at UHDB. Charlotte said: "For as many people to benefit from your service as possible, you've got to be willing to adapt and offer that personalised care. It is a scary time on the road to recovery when you have suffered damage to your heart so the feedback was invaluable and we wanted to use it to improve our own offer to patients."
Charlotte and her team wanted to offer a more 'hybrid' care model and created their own resources including an exercise video and a virtual education day, as well as securing a new platform 'Recap Health' which allows them to see when patients are accessing and interacting with the app.
Charlotte said: "We know that patients value seeing us in person but offering a digital option is more convenient for some of our patients especially if they work and have busy lifestyles.
"It is so important that they participate in the rehab exercises to help their recovery so we wanted to find the best solution for them. We looked at ways we could deliver the same resources that patients liked but without high costs and the feedback has been really good.
"While it was difficult at times to balance the research with my daily work, I am so proud of the ideas it has generated and how it has allowed me to really look at what our patients need and how we can offer them more flexibility during their recovery."
Charlotte was selected to showcase her project at a recent conference at Aston University in Birmingham and was delighted to be crowned winner of the best oral abstract on the day.
Research plays an important role in improving patient care and experiences and allows us to think innovatively to do things differently. Charlotte’s research into cardiac rehabilitation is an excellent example of how the wider clinical workforce can make significant contributions to research and create improved outcomes for our patients and communities.