Mind the Gap! Challenges translating cardiac telerehabilitation research into practice.

Abstract

Aim:Exercise is a key component of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) but access to traditional face-to-face services is a major participation barrier outside metropolitan areas. Use of emerging technologies to deliver real-time remote exercise supervision has proven to be effective and affordable in scientific trials, but processes required to successfully bridge the gap to clinical practice are unknown. Methods: Methods: We are engaging CR healthcare consumers, professionals, and managers/executives in a 3-phase multisite implementation study to create and evaluate context-specific strategies that promote successful, scalable, sustainable translation of real-time cardiac telerehabilitation into clinical practice. Study phases include qualitatively identifying important factors that contribute to successful translation, co-designing a toolkit of actionable, context-specific strategies to guide translation initiatives, and testing the toolkit in a small pilot implementation study. Results: Results: Study phase 1 is in progress but key practical learnings about academic-clinical partnerships have already emerged. Alignment between academic objectives and clinical needs is not always a fast-track to success, communication is complex, and key translational issues may arise before the study designed to investigate them has even started. Conclusion: Conclusion: Journeying across the translational gap is fraught with challenge but academic-clinical partnerships are essential to realise the potential impact of telerehabilitation on service access, delivery, and outcomes. Readiness for bilateral contribution seems important to turn ‘collaboration’ into ‘partnership’.