The role of tele-rehabilitation in post-myocardial infarction populations during the covid-19 pandemic in a tertiary care centre

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background The role of teleconsultation has been highly valued for health care professionals in cardiovascular field in recent years as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has affected the face-to-face patient visits to specialist heart centres. Moreover, the cardiac rehabilitation is the key element of post-coronary care, and the role of remote real-time tele-rehabilitation would play a promising future for post-myocardial ischaemia patient populations during the covid-19 crisis. (1) Purpose Our primary aim was to study the role of tele-rehabilitation on long-term patient safety and positive compliance rates. Further objectives were to understand the reasons for patient satisfaction following remote consultation. Methods A total of 50 patients were enrolled into cardiac rehabilitation clinics from 1st April 2022 to 31st October 2022. Out of them,40 attended virtual tele-rehabilitation service due to ongoing covid-19 pandemic. The study questionnaire was created upon the level of perception of patient satisfaction in three domains, including easy access to remote consultations, positive compliance and quality of overall teleconsultation especially the voice quality, and delivery of exercise regimes with remote control. A final survey of patient satisfaction was recorded from the day patients receiving the first virtual appointment up to next 6 weeks remote consultations. Results It was found that 32 out of 40 patients (80%) received a positive response upon overall virtual consultations and tele-rehabilitation services. In 8 (20%) of the 40 patients who did not meet the level of satisfaction, the main reasons were lack of clear instructions among exercise regimes and poor explanation of patient concerns during the remote tele-rehabilitation sessions. However, we identified the main reasons for which positive satisfaction in virtual rehabilitation sessions, and these revealed reduced patient waiting times, avoidance of infection risks in vulnerable post-coronary intervention patient groups and flexible accessibility for varieties of cardiac tele-rehabilitation sessions during the ongoing covid-19 crisis. (3) Conclusion The implementation of remote real-time consultations in cardiac rehabilitation services has led to significant improvement in patient quality of care especially reduced patient waiting times, and cost-effectiveness due to flexible opportunities for tele-exercise sessions. Moreover, it can provide speedy, focused interaction on specific issues of care during the post-coronary rehabilitation periods, often circumventing the need for patient travel. (2)