Pulmonary rehabilitation is an important aspect of managing chronic pulmonary disease. It can help improve quality of life, increase exercise capacity, improve symptoms of shortness of breath and help manage anxiety and depression for persons with chronic respiratory diseases.. A vital part of a successful pulmonary rehabilitation program is the skill and knowledge of its healthcare providers. This program, developed jointly by the AARC and AACVPR, provides pulmonary rehabilitation specialists the knowledge necessary to be an effective member of the pulmonary rehabilitation team.
Criteria for successful completion includes viewing all course videos in their entirety. As this course provides the participant with a certificate, a 60-question post-course test is required to complete the course. Successful completion of the course test requires scoring 70% or higher on the post-course test. Attendees are allowed two attempts on the post-course test.
Successful completion of this course allows the participant to use “Certificate in Pulmonary Rehabilitation, AARC/AACVPR” in their signature line and on the resume/CV.
This course is approved by the AARC for 12.0 CRCE for respiratory therapists.
This course is approved by the Ohio Nurses Association for 12 CNE through 01/01/2020. (ONA #21308) The Ohio Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. (OBN-001-91)
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation: The participant will be able to define pulmonary rehabilitation, describe the essential components of a comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation program, and explain the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation.
- Pathophysiology and Assessment of COPD: Explain the pathophysiology of COPD, describe the methods of COPD diagnosis, identify treatment strategies for COPD, and describe components of assessment for a patient with COPD.
- Assessment and Management of Patients other than COPD: Discuss the pathology of non-COPD obstructive lung diseases, restrictive lung diseases and vascular lung disease, identify the educational components for patients with non-COPD obstructive lung diseases, restrictive lung diseases, vascular lung disease and post-lung transplant patients, and discuss exercise prescription for patients with non-COPD obstructive lung diseases, restrictive lung diseases, vascular lung disease and post-lung transplant patients.
- Pharmacologic Interventions: List currently available pulmonary medications, describe indications for various pulmonary medications based on scientific evidence and use in specific disease processes, and determine appropriate delivery methods for inhaled medications based on patient cognition, physical ability, and preference.
- Supplemental Oxygen Administration: Describe the physiological benefit of supplemental oxygen, differentiate between various home oxygen delivery systems, and determine appropriate delivery system to meet patient need.
- Exercise Assessment, Prescription, and Training in Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Part 1: Describe the purpose and relative importance of exercise testing in pulmonary rehabilitation candidates and participants, identify appropriate exercise assessments that provide meaningful information and are recognized as acceptable options and outcomes for pulmonary rehabilitation participants, demonstrate knowledge necessary pertaining to your area of clinical specialization in administering tests in accordance with safety and updated guidelines and/or cite resources where specific information pertaining to this area can be found, understand the utility of the 6 Minute Walk Test (6MWT) as it relates to pulmonary rehabilitation participants, and, in part 2, understand the information revealed from different types of exercise tests and how it can help guide individualized exercise training prescription.
- Exercise Assessment, Prescription, and Training in Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Part 2: List the recommended core components for prescribing exercise, utilize information obtained from an exercise test to guide individualized exercise prescription, understand guidelines for prescribing exercise for endurance and resistance training for participants in pulmonary rehabilitation with chronic respiratory disease and considerations for flexibility/joint range of motion, describe strategies that are recommended for maximizing exercise training benefits in pulmonary rehabilitation patients, understand and implement disease specific considerations into pulmonary rehabilitation exercise training programs, and describe the AACVPR program certification documentation requirements for an individualized treatment plan related to exercise prescription.
- Tobacco Cessation: Explain the scientific factors supporting tobacco cessation, identify general approaches to smoking cessation, and explain the pharmacologic agents employed in a tobacco cessation program
- Nutrition and Pulmonary Disease: Describe the measurement of malnutrition, describe the effects of malnutrition on patients with pulmonary disease, and develop a nutrition strategy for patients with pulmonary disease.
- Psychosocial Assessment and Intervention in Pulmonary Rehabilitation: Identify components of psychosocial assessment including psychosocial screeners, discuss common signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety including some tools that can be applicable in the pulmonary rehabilitation program, and discuss basic tenets of Motivational Interviewing to enhance adherence in pulmonary rehabilitation.
- Collaborative Self-Management: Describe collaborative self-management, discuss the utility of using motivational interviewing as a health coaching strategy to guide positive behavior change and successful self-management, discuss the importance of self-efficacy in the success of collaborative self-management, and discuss implementation of individualized collaborative self-management training in the clinical setting.
- Outcomes Measurement in Pulmonary Rehabilitation: Describe the foundational concepts of outcomes in healthcare, identify the evidence-based outcomes for pulmonary rehabilitation, identify valid and reliable instruments to measure pulmonary rehabilitation outcomes and discuss the process considerations when measuring outcomes in pulmonary rehabilitation.