Key result
Contextual inquiry identifies undefined referrals, limited communication, and patient knowledge gaps as cardiac rehabilitation barriers.
Why the study?
Many patients with a clear indication for cardiac rehabilitation do not participate, creating a need to explore referral barriers to inform digital health technology design.
Digital health technologies for cardiac rehabilitation should focus on timely patient information, automated referral support, and enhanced intersectoral communication to overcome identified referral barriers.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Barriers in Austria highlight targets for referral improvement; leaves open whether digital tools can boost cardiac rehabilitation uptake.
Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is crucial for secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Yet, many patients with a clear indication of CR do not participate in such programs. To build a more nuanced foundation for developing digital health technologies supporting patients’ CR uptake, we explored the practiced CR referral process to identify context-specific barriers in Austria. We conducted a contextual inquiry including four observations in both out- and inpatient settings and 13 stakeholder interviews. The results indicate a lack of a defined referral process, limited intersectoral communication, doctors’ unawareness and knowledge gaps, and patients missing clear information about CR. Thus, digital health technologies that aim to support patient-centered cardiovascular care pathways should be designed for timely patient information and engagement, automated referral support, and enhanced intersectoral communication.
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Höppchen et al. (2024) studied Cardiovascular diseases (n=13). Contextual inquiry of cardiac rehabilitation referral process was evaluated on Context-specific barriers to cardiac rehabilitation uptake. A contextual inquiry identified barriers to cardiac rehabilitation uptake in Austria, including undefined referral processes, limited intersectoral communication, and patient knowledge gaps.
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