Cardiac rehabilitation: its role in evaluation and management of the patient with coronary heart disease

Comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation is not for every patient, but rather for those who require more than the services of a physician and a nurse. The services which eventually are required may be provided simply in some cases by paramedical persons and in the more complicated cases by an experienced multidisciplinary team. The main evaluative expertise of cardiac rehabilitation specialists is the functional evaluation of the patient—that is, the physical, psychological, social, and vocational functioning by a variety of specialized techniques. The major therapeutic recommendation is usually endurance-building exercise training for secondary prevention. The educational and supportive aspects of the rehabilitation process may make the difference between non-limiting impairment and disability.