What nurses know about physical activity in patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery: A review article

The purpose of this study was to review the importance of cardiac rehabilitation and physical activity training in the second phase of rehabilitation.

Cardiac rehabilitation is defined as a comprehensive long-term program consisting of medical assessment, exercise program administration, correction of cardiovascular risk factors, training and counseling. Familiarizing nurses with the area of ​​cardiac rehabilitation and providing necessary education to patients will have a significant effect on reducing complications and improving quality of life.

This review study was carried out by library and internet searches in the years 2018-2019 using the keywords “coronary artery bypass graft surgery”, “adherence to treatment”, “cardiovascular disease”, “physical activity”, “exercises at home”, “cardiac rehabilitation” and their Persian equivalents. The search was carried out in databases, search engines PubMed, SID, MagIran, Web of Sciences, Cochrane Library, CINHAL, OVID, Google Scholar, Up-to-date, and Scopus without time limit. A total of 51 articles were found in relation to the subject under study, of which, 4 articles were excluded because of duplication and 10 articles were excluded because their full texts were not available. Finally, 37 articles were included in the study.

The role of the nurse in training cardiac patients for rehabilitation is of great importance. By educating patients about the principles of rehabilitation for prevention and management of complications, an important role can be played in improving the quality of life of patients and increasing their survival.

Nurses' acquaintance with the principles of cardiac rehabilitation is of particular importance. It is suggested that nurses consider rehabilitation education as one of the supportive therapeutic and preventive approaches and should always be familiar with the latest guidelines in this area.