:I am wondering if there are any therapists who have experience conducting FCE's with clients with cardiac conditions? If so, do you have protocols and procedures that you would be willing to share?
First and foremost, when I test cardiac patients I make special effort to record heart rate throughout the day, particularly before, during and after any change of activity (I put this in the observations section of the software). Then, I plot the HR against the activity on a graph so it's easy to see for the reader and include this in the report. BP should also be checked throughout the testing. If on medication, this should be noted as this may influence HR response. Protocols: if they are a cardiac patient to start, they likely won't do well in formal "fitness" tests and it would be difficult to justify why you put them through that. What is important is that they are able to demonstrate the endurance (or not) to get through specific activities without getting short of breath, dizzy etc. so I generally match them to job duties or obtain baseline abilities (i.e. stairs, walking etc). Lifting / exertion activities should be done carefully and I generally do not "max out" these tests due to concern over BP/HR responses. The ELC handles this nicely as it takes into account the worker's psychophysiological endpoints in the protocol.
"This is by far and away the best CEU/Certification course I have attended in my 7-year professional career. It is well-organized. The instructors are knowledgeable and keep it interesting by applying all of the information to real-world...
First and foremost, when I test cardiac patients I make special effort to record heart rate throughout the day, particularly before, during and after any change of activity (I put this in the observations section of the software). Then, I plot the HR against the activity on a graph so it's easy to see for the reader and include this in the report. BP should also be checked throughout the testing. If on medication, this should be noted as this may influence HR response. Protocols: if they are a cardiac patient to start, they likely won't do well in formal "fitness" tests and it would be difficult to justify why you put them through that. What is important is that they are able to demonstrate the endurance (or not) to get through specific activities without getting short of breath, dizzy etc. so I generally match them to job duties or obtain baseline abilities (i.e. stairs, walking etc). Lifting / exertion activities should be done carefully and I generally do not "max out" these tests due to concern over BP/HR responses. The ELC handles this nicely as it takes into account the worker's psychophysiological endpoints in the protocol.