THE DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF A CARDIAC REHABILITATION AUDIT TOOL

Cardiac rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary activity and as such nec essitates the development of audit systems that cut across professiona l boundaries. The objective of this paper is to describe the developme nt and testing of an audit tool for cardiac rehabilitation. The tool, based on published guidelines, comprised three proformas: one for each patient entering a cardiac rehabilitation programme, one for a summar y of a series of patients and one for the facilities available. The pr oformas were tested in three centres that were assessed as either 'hig h', 'moderate' or 'low' providers of cardiac rehabilitation. The cardi ac rehabilitation programme coordinator of each centre examined a cons ecutive series of 30 patients' case notes and completed the proformas. The proformas were found to be clear and easy to use. Information was obtained that informed users of current practice and provided pointer s to improvements in the provision of care. In conclusion, the cardiac rehabilitation audit tool proved to be effective in determining the d ocumented evidence of practice, was better for determining the level o f provision than a purely subjective judgement and provided informatio n indicating an individual programme's strengths and weaknesses. This is the first attempt at producing an audit tool for cardiac rehabilita tion. However, further work may be required in its refinement.