Prehabilitation and Perioperative Rehabilitation for Cardiac Surgery: What a Randomized Trial and a Systematic Review Found

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who work with adults before, during, or after cardiac surgery, including acute care, cardiopulmonary, and outpatient cardiac rehabilitation settings.

Licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants; also useful to clinicians in acute care, cardiopulmonary, and perioperative rehabilitation roles. Physical therapist assistants work under the direction of a physical therapist.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

Liu Y, Liu F, Xu M, Zhou H, Wang H, Liu Y, He X, Huang H, Sun T, Jian X, Chen J, Wu M, Sun Y, Cao P, Chen J, Guo L, Ma H. Peri-operative rehabilitation in patients undergoing elective cardiac valve surgery: a randomised controlled trial. Anaesthesia. 2026;81(3):362-372. doi:10.1111/anae.70025

Steinmetz C, Bjarnason-Wehrens B, Walther T, Schaffland TF, Walther C. Efficacy of Prehabilitation Before Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2023;102(4):323-330. doi:10.1097/PHM.0000000000002097

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. State what the randomized controlled trial of a perioperative rehabilitation bundle in elective cardiac valve surgery reported for its combined main outcome and for pulmonary complications.
2. Describe which recovery outcomes the systematic review and meta-analysis of exercise-based prehabilitation before cardiac surgery reported as improved and which the authors said remained unclear.
3. Distinguish the outcomes on which the two papers agree from those on which they diverge, naming which paper reported each finding.

1. Start Here: The Clinical Question and How This Course Is Built
2. Part One: Perioperative Rehabilitation in Elective Cardiac Valve Surgery
3. Who Entered the Valve Surgery Trial
4. The Four-Part Rehabilitation Bundle and How the Trial Was Run
5. What the Trial Found: Combined Outcome, Pneumonia, and Length of Stay
6. Limits of a Single-Center Trial and What the Authors Concluded
7. Part Two: Exercise-Based Prehabilitation Before Cardiac Surgery
8. The Studies Pooled and the Patients in Them
9. How the Review Was Searched, Pooled, and Appraised
10. Walking Distance, Hospital Stay, and Atrial Fibrillation
11. Mixed Study Quality and What the Review Authors Concluded
12. Bringing It Together
13. Where the Two Papers Point the Same Way
14. Where They Diverge, and Which Paper Reported What
15. Before the Operation, Around the Operation, or Both
16. What the Evidence Still Leaves Open
17. Key Takeaways
18. Post-Test and Course Evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 1.0 contact hour (60 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. Liu Y, Liu F, Xu M, Zhou H, Wang H, Liu Y, He X, Huang H, Sun T, Jian X, Chen J, Wu M, Sun Y, Cao P, Chen J, Guo L, Ma H. Peri-operative rehabilitation in patients undergoing elective cardiac valve surgery: a randomised controlled trial. Anaesthesia. 2026;81(3):362-372. doi:10.1111/anae.70025
2. Steinmetz C, Bjarnason-Wehrens B, Walther T, Schaffland TF, Walther C. Efficacy of Prehabilitation Before Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2023;102(4):323-330. doi:10.1097/PHM.0000000000002097