Inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) conducted in a wide variety of settings has been shown to improve exercise tolerance, symptoms and health status of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). As compared to outpatient and home-based PR programs, inpatient PR generally offers the most comprehensive, multidisciplinary scope of patient services. As such, inpatient PR is ideally suited to meet the needs of the sickest and most disabled patients with a wide variety of chronic respiratory diseases, who are often unable to participate in outpatient or home-based programs. Included as a part of a continuum of care (eg. in the transition from intensive care unit to outpatient-based rehabilitation), it offers several rehabilitative opportunities and helps patients achieve a broader spectrum of goals than can usually be addressed in outpatient settings. It can also be a venue in which patients can undergo chronic ventilator weaning concurrently with PR. As is true for all PR programs, core components include exercise training, comprehensive pulmonary education and outcomes assessment. Inpatient PR leads to gains in exercise tolerance, ability to perform activities of daily living, dyspnea and health status. Such benefits can be seen after as few as 10 days of rehabilitation, and may last up to 1 year following discharge.