March 10–16 is a Great Time to Raise Awareness of Pulmonary Rehabilitation

March 5, 2013

With the official beginning of spring just a week or so away, most of us are looking forward to the rebirth and renewal this time of year brings.

For our chronic lung disease patients, pulmonary rehabilitation can quite literally offer a second chance at life and health, so it is only fitting that Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week be celebrated this month.

The week begins this coming Sunday and will put PR programs across the nation in the spotlight. We encourage all of our members who work in this life-enhancing area of care to use the occasion to promote PR in their communities. Our Public Relations Guidebook for Respiratory Therapists and our online Media Guide have all the tools you need to get started on some great media coverage for your program.

Of course, there are many other ways you can mark Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week too, not the least of which is by rededicating yourself to increasing your own knowledge to better serve the patients in your programs. The AARC has lots of great resources for that too:

• COPD Educator Course: This complete tutorial on how to care for patients with the most common condition found in PR offers 10.0 CRCEs.
• Emerging Roles for the Respiratory Therapist in Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency: This online course covers the hereditary form of COPD and carries 3.0 CRCEs.
• Clinical Practice Guideline on Pulmonary Rehabilitation: The key components of a state-of-the-art PR program are outlined here.
• Position Statement on Pulmonary Rehabilitation: With a short and to-the-point overview of what a PR program should entail, this statement can be invaluable when developing a new program or upgrading an existing one.
• Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program Toolkit: Developed in response to ongoing problems with Medicare reimbursement under the PR benefit, this resource provides the guidance you need to accurately report your charges to Medicare.

The AARC offers PR RTs a great way to stay connected too. Our Continuing Care/Rehabilitation Section gives you the chance to network with your peers from across the country via a dedicated discussion list on AARConnect, and the section also supports a quarterly Bulletin with articles written especially for section members, plus a monthly email newsletter with the latest scientific evidence supporting PR and the patients you serve.

Together these resources can help you keep on top of changes in reimbursement and other factors influencing your program, and they can also give you a community of peers to turn to whenever you have questions or concerns about your program—or just want to share great ideas for keeping PR patients engaged in the best thing that could happen to them after a diagnosis of COPD or other severe chronic respiratory condition. Namely, your PR program!