Cardiac patient teaching: application to patients undergoing coronary angioplasty and their partners

Education is accepted as a key component of cardiac rehabilitation for patients following myocardial infarction and bypass graft surgery. Recently, there has been a call for rehabilitation to be uniformly offered to partners and families of cardiac patients, and for the expanding boundaries of rehabilitation to include patients who undergo coronary angioplasty. This paper aims to highlight patient education strategies for cardiac patients and partners with a focus on assessment of their educational needs. The unique needs of patients undergoing coronary angioplasty and their partners will then be discussed with existing cardiac educational strategies expanded to encompass this group of patients.