The Use of the Internet to Deliver Cardiac Rehabilitation Remotely to Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) are medically-supervised, multi-disciplinary secondary prevention programs, effective at improving lifestyle behaviours and reducing risk factors in patients with cardiovascular disease. Despite the known benefits of CRPs, one of the key barriers to attendance is geographical proximity. A 'virtual' cardiac rehabilitation program (vCRP) website and the internet were used to deliver monitoring, education and support to patients residing in small urban and rural areas in British Columbia. The program was shown to be a safe, effective and economical solution for providing preventative care to heart disease patients.