Susie Cartledge

Aims As we move into a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, cardiac and pulmonary services are considering how to sustain telehealth modalities long-term. It is important to learn from services that had greater telehealth adoption and determine factors that support sustained use. We aimed to describe how telehealth has been used to deliver cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services across Queensland, Australia. Methods and results Semi-structured interviews (n = 8) and focus groups (n = 7) were conducted with 27 cardiac and pulmonary clinicians and managers from health services across Queensland between June and August 2021. Interview questions were guided by Greenhalgh’s Non-adoption, Abandonment, Scale-up, Spread, and Sustainability framework. Hybrid inductive/deductive framework analysis elicited six main themes: (i) Variable levels of readiness; (ii) Greater telehealth uptake in pulmonary vs. cardiac rehabilitation; (iii) Safety and risk management; (iv) Client willingness—targeted support required; (v) Equity and access; and (vi) New models of care. We found that sustained integration of telehealth in cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation will require contributions from all stakeholders: consumers (e.g. co-design), clinicians (e.g. shared learning), health services (e.g. increasing platform functionality), and the profession (e.g. sharing resources). Conclusion There are opportunities for telehealth programmes servicing large geographic areas and opportunities to increase programme participation rates more broadly. Centralized models of care serving large geographic areas could maximize sustainability with current resource limitations; however, realizing the full potential of telehealth will require additional funding for supporting infrastructure and workforce. Individuals and organizations both have roles to play in sustaining telehealth in cardiac and pulmonary services.

Wearable cameras offer an innovative way to discover new insights into the lived experience of people with cardiovascular conditions. Wearable cameras can be used alone or supplement more traditional research methods, such as interviews and participant observations. This paper provides an overview of the benefits of using wearable cameras for data collection and outlines some key considerations for researchers and clinicians interested in this method. We provide a case study describing a study design using wearable cameras and how the data were used.