Cardiovascular Diseases
Conditions
Keywords
physiotherapy, exercise prescription, cardiovascular disease
Brief summary
Physiotherapists are often confronted with patients with (elevated risk for) cardiovascular disease (CVD), even when this is not the primary indication for physiotherapy. Hence, physiotherapists should be able to provide evidence-based exercise advice to these patients, but this has not been assessed. The aim of this study was therefore to assess whether exercise prescriptions by physiotherapists to patients with CVD are in accordance with international recommendations.
Detailed description
In this prospective observational survey, forty-seven Belgian physiotherapists agreed to prescribe exercise intensity, frequency, session duration, program duration, and exercise type (endurance or strength training) for the same three patient cases. Exercise prescriptions were compared between clinicians and relations with clinician characteristics were studied. In addition, the agreement between physiotherapists' exercise prescriptions and those from international recommendations (based on a maximal score of 60/per case) was assessed.
Interventions
OTHERTo prescribe exercise prescription for CVD patients
To prescribe exercise intensity, frequency, session duration, program duration, and exercise type (endurance or strength training) for the same three patient cases
Sponsors
Hasselt University
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Inclusion criteria
Currently professionally active Flemish physiotherapists
Exclusion criteria
Not having access to a device that allows the use of the EXercise Prescription in Everyday practice & Rehabilitative Training (EXPERT) tool.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Session duration | February - April 2022 | Assessment of session duration (expressed in number of minutes) |
| Exercise intensity | February - April 2022 | Assessment of the prescription of exercise intensity (expressed in heart rate in beats per minute) |
| Exercise frequency | February - April 2022 | Assessment of exercise frequency (expressed in number of exercise sessions per week) |
| Total exercise volume | February - April 2022 | Multiplication of number of prescribed weeks, number of prescribed sessions/week, prescribed individual session duration and prescribed exercise intensity |
| Program duration | February - April 2022 | Assessment of program duration (expressed in number of weeks) |
| Exercise type | February - April 2022 | Aerobic exercise or strength exercise |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Association between exercise prescriptions and clinician characteristics' | February - April 2022 | Relations between exercise prescriptions (intensity, frequency, session/program duration, exercise type) and clinician characteristics (age, gender, education, experience,...) were studied. |
Countries
Belgium
Outcome results
None listed