For Physicians
Our 18 session outpatient program is designed to treat patients with a wide variety of lung diseases. The exercise, which incorporates stretching, strength training, and aerobic training, is individually tailored to each patient's abilities.
Referring a Patient
If you have a patient you feel is a good candidate for pulmonary rehab and would like to enroll them in our program, you can download our Referral Form. Once completed, you can fax it to us at 617.983.4520 along with the patient's latest office note and most recent PFT's. We will be happy to then contact the patient and discuss our program with him or her.
Pre-Enrollment
Prior to beginning the program, each patient will be scheduled for an initial evaluation with pulmonary rehab staff in order to obtain a complete medical history as well as complete questionnaires. An exercise tolerance test can be completed here at The Faulkner if the referring physician indicates that one is necessary. Also, we require pulmonary function tests to have been completed within the past year. We can schedule those at the PFT Lab at The Faulkner if the patient has no recent PFT's. A six minute walk test will be conducted on the patient's first day of participation. A repeat 6-minute walk will be performed on the last day for comparative purposes.
Session Monitoring
Blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, and breath sounds are all checked at rest before and after exercise. During the session, heart rate and oxygen saturation are monitored while exercising using a pulse oximeter. We do not use continuous telemetry monitoring. We keep oxygen saturations above 90% and will titrate supplemental oxygen if necessary. Blood pressure is checked while walking on the treadmill. Shortness of breath is assessed using the Borg scale. If a patient also has diabetes, their blood sugar will be checked prior to and following exercise. They must have a blood sugar between 100 and 250 in order to exercise and above 70 in order to be discharged.
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