Cardiac Rehabilitation Research – Dr Simon Jobson & Steve Meadows

Dr Simon Jobson (Research Fellow) and Steve Meadows (Lecturer) are conducting cardiac rehabilitation research within the Centre for Sports Studies at the University of Kent. They have received funding from the Kent Cardiovascular Network to conduct two important research studies.

The first study has now been completed and involved an evaluation of the service provided by the Medway Cardiac Rehab team. This service evaluation has now been completed and aspects of the work have been submitted to the British Journal of Cardiac Nursing.

The study highlighted a number of important results. For example:
• Cardiac rehab leads to an increase in the percentage of people that achieve the governments recommended five times per week exercise targets.
• Depression is an important factor in the uptake of cardiac rehab.
• A service evaluation can provide very valuable information for a local NHS service provider as it highlights strengths in service provision and areas for improvement; ultimately leading to better patient care.

The second phase of this study will now look at evaluating the value of functional assessment of cardiac patients.