By Anna Horner | News & Views

Digital technologies are not new to healthcare, but cardiac rehabilitation (CR) providers should know how they to leverage technology to improve the delivery of patient-centered care, according to Linda Park, PhD, NP, FAAN, FAHA, associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. Dr. Park says some providers may not be aware how best to incorporate digital health into their CR programs and may have questions about which technologies to use. Some questions that arise are how to ensure patients have equitable access to those technologies and how to integrate tools that patients already use.

In a 39^th AACVPR Annual Meeting session, titled “Leveraging Digital Health Technology to Improve Cardiac Rehabilitation Delivery and Access,” Dr. Park and other presenters will discuss different digital health technologies that can be incorporated into CR programs to encourage patient engagement and improve clinical outcomes. “Text messaging, for instance, is widely accessible and can be used to message participants on their off days between CR sessions or help them learn how to best use their wearables,” explains Dr. Park.

In addition to text messaging, the session will focus on mobile applications and video conferencing tools. “These technologies keep patients more engaged with their own health when they’re at home on their own. They serve as reminders, forms of motivation, and provide small doses of education outside of their CR program,” she says. “It’s technology that’s accessible and continues to have potential, but we need to have conversations about how to best utilize such technology in our CR programs.”

Dr. Park stresses that the focus always should be on providing patient-centered CR, and the session may give participants ideas to determine which technologies are suitable based on what their CR programs offer, the populations they serve, and where patients are at in their rehab journey. “It’s important to continuously think about what our patients want and need. If we’re thinking about what makes sense for us, it’s not going to be effective and successful for patients,” Dr. Park concludes.