Edinburgh Napier University

  Introduction: Outpatient cardiac rehabilitation programs provide an ideal environment to deliver targeted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to cardiac patients and their family members. However, the prevalence of CPR training in Australian programs is low (24%). This study sought to identify the best strategy to implement CPR training into cardiac rehabilitation programs.
Hypothesis: We hypothesise that coordinators who receive a higher level of education (information pack including two self-instructional CPR video training kits and a face-to-face education session) compared to those who only receive an information pack, will be more likely to incorporate CPR training into their cardiac rehabilitation programs.
Methods: A two-arm randomised controlled implementation study is currently being conducted across Australia. One cardiac rehabilitation coordinator per cardiac rehabilitation program, where the program is not currently providing regular CPR training to patients and families, is eligible to participate. Coordinators will be randomised 1:1 to either receive an information pack or information pack plus face-to-face education session.
Results: To date 23 coordinators (59% metropolitan programs, 41% rural programs) have been randomised. Few programs (19%) have previously offered CPR training and only 25% currently include information about CPR. Common barriers to incorporating CPR training into programs are time (71%), resources (67%) and a lack of awareness to include CPR training (24%). Motivations for including CPR training are driven by coordinators assessment that patients and families are interested in CPR training (81%). Implementation data will be presented including information on the level of implementation in addition to a sample of brief qualitative telephone interviews to further discuss enablers and barriers.
Conclusions: Cardiac rehabilitation represents a logical location to provide targeted CPR training to high-risk cardiac groups at scale across Australia. This study will aid in better understanding how cardiac rehabilitation coordinators can be supported to enable more programs to incorporate CPR training.