Cardiac Rehabilitation in German Speaking Countries of Europe-Evidence-Based Guidelines from Germany, Austria and Switzerland LLKardReha-DACH-Part 2.

Background: Scientific guidelines have been developed to update and harmonize exercise based cardiac rehabilitation (ebCR) in German speaking countries. Key recommendations for ebCR indications have recently been published in part 1 of this journal. The present part 2 updates the evidence with respect to contents and delivery of ebCR in clinical practice, focusing on exercise training (ET), psychological interventions (PI), patient education (PE).

Cardiac Rehabilitation in German Speaking Countries of Europe-Evidence-Based Guidelines from Germany, Austria and Switzerland LLKardReha-DACH-Part 1.

Background: Although cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) is well accepted in general, CR-attendance and delivery still considerably vary between the European countries. Moreover, clinical and prognostic effects of CR are not well established for a variety of cardiovascular diseases.

Methods: The guidelines address all aspects of CR including indications, contents and delivery.

Evaluation of a standardized patient education program for inpatient cardiac rehabilitation: impact on illness knowledge and self-management behaviors up to 1 year.

Patient education is an essential part of the treatment of coronary heart disease in cardiac rehabilitation. In Germany, no standardized and evaluated patient education programs for coronary heart disease have been available so far. In this article, we report the evaluation of a patient-oriented program.