Outcome Measurement and Audit

Comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is defined as: “The sum of activities required to ensure the best possible physical, mental and social conditions, so that the cardiac patient may resume as normal a place as possible in the life of the community.”1 This implies the use of an individually tailored combination of physiological, clinical, psychological and social methods. Measuring the outcome of a multifaceted intervention is a methodological and logistical challenge. At present quality assurance of CR is relatively uncommon even though guidelines recommend that data are routinely collected and presented.2 Thus, as CR programs must compete for resources with other healthcare modalities, caregivers will increasingly demand auditing of the service.