Pilot of a community-based interprofessional “student-infused” pulmonary rehabilitation program in Saint John, New Brunswick

Background With the increasing prevalence of chronic pulmonary conditions in New Brunswick and Canada it is necessary to consider innovative interventions to improve access to rehabilitation and supportive care for affected clients. In Fall 2018 we piloted a pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program for persons with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to demonstrate a novel approach of bridging interprofessional education of students in health care fields with provision of care in a community setting. Methods An 8-week PR program was implemented and evaluated using a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-testing to measure the effects of the program’s exercise and educational interventions on persons with COPD. Participants were assessed using the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), and a custom questionnaire that rated the participants’ activities of daily living and the PR program. Results Seven participants completed our PR program. Following the intervention, participants’ self-reported health demonstrated a statistically significant improvement. Even though changes on the 6MWT and SGRQ were not shown to be statistically significant, there was evidence of clinically meaningful improvements in those measures. On average, participants walked 25 m further postintervention and showed clinically meaningful improvements on the SGRQ. Conclusions This pilot project demonstrated that a community-based PR program with active involvement of students from multiple health care programs can have positive outcomes for clients with COPD. It also illustrated how educational programs can provide an innovative means for increasing access to rehabilitation and supportive care for clients in the community.