Inpatient Cardiac Rehab Guidelines

With obesity rates climbing, so is the rate of heart disease in the United States. The Women's Heart Foundation reports that one person has a heart attack in America every 20 seconds and that 1.5 million heart attacks occur annually. With such a prolific need for cardiac care, guidelines need to be followed regarding cardiac inpatient rehabilitation. These guidelines greatly increase the odds of a successful inpatient recovery.

Space

• Cardiac patients need a lot of room to recover. They frequently need to be in bed for long periods, and the exercise and monitoring equipment used for them can be bulky. To accommodate these needs, each patient needs to be given no less than 40 square feet of horizontal space. Ceiling heights also need to be high (at least 10 feet). In the instance that staff members of the hospital need to work on the patient in an emergency, this ensures that overcrowding will not occur, which means that the patient can be treated more quickly.

Comfort

• Patients recovering from a heart condition do not need the added stress of trying to stay warm or cool down. The rooms in which they stay thus should have a temperature that is between 65 and 72 degrees F. Humidity needs to be around 65 percent. Because cardiac patients need to be able to rest, controlling sound also is important; the patient shouldn't be kept awake by people in the next room, machines being carted down the hall or by public address systems.

Emergency Preparedness

• Cardiac patients are at a high risk of needing emergency medical care, such as use of a defibrillator. They may pass out and fall. For this reason, all cardiac areas, particularly the exercise areas, must be equipped with an emergency phone, first aid and other devices that may assist the patient such as an oxygen machine.

Equipment

• Pay attention to the equipment used by cardiac patients because the equipment is such a big part of cardiac patients strengthening their heart and getting healthy. Make sure that the equipment is commercial grade, and do documented maintenance and calibration routinely. If you see damage to the equipment, report it right away and put in a repair order; don't allow patients to use the machine until the problem is fixed. Give your patients a place to sit in case they feel faint or are experiencing abnormal heart rhythms, and put equipment in the exercise areas that can be used to monitor the patient's vital signs. Do not allow any staff that is untrained in the use of the equipment to assist cardiac patients in using it.