How is the education component of pulmonary rehabilitation delivered in practice––Is it patient‐centred?

Objectives Pulmonary rehabilitation involves a significant component of education, but little has been published on what educational content is covered or how it is delivered. This survey study set out to investigate how pulmonary rehabilitation education is delivered in practice. Methods A survey was designed to investigate current educational delivery and which topics respondents reported should be included in a pulmonary rehabilitation programme. The survey was sent to 11 Scottish Pulmonary Rehabilitation Action group regional leads. Results Nine completed the questionnaire (81.8%). Education was reported to be predominately group-based and face-to-face (n=9, 100%) consisting of between 6-12 sessions. Most educational topics lasted 15 minutes or less, some topic areas were not consistently covered. The educational content was variable and not personalised to individual needs. Three health areas undertook informal literacy assessment at baseline assessment and when tailoring COPD plans. Often attendance at educational sessions was not needed to "complete" pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Conclusions Content and delivery of educational topics was varied, and no consistent outcome measure to assess the effectiveness of education was used. Practice implications Education needs to be delivered in a patient centred way tailoring for literacy skills using a range of different teaching approaches and aids.