Cardiac Rehabilitation: Exercise Testing and Prescription, vol. 2.

Cardiac Rehabilitation: Exercise Testing and Prescription, vol 2 This comprehensive test was compiled by editors who intended to reach professionals in the areas of athletic training and rehabilitation, cardiac rehabilitation, corporate and hospital-based fitness and wellness programs, nutrition, and sports medicine. The book's content is very appropriate for this intended audience. The text is divided into four sections.

Part 1, Administrative Concerns, includes an extensive overview of insurance, a brief discussion of cardiac rehabilitation equipment, approaches for improving physician involvement, and an interesting chapter on who should administer cardiac rehabilitation--the nurse, exercise physiologist, physician, or physical therapist. Job descriptions for some key personnel in a cardiac rehabilitation unit are outlined. A detailed performance appraisal is provided as a very useful tool for employee evaluation in a cardiac rehabilitation setting.

Part 2, Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Prescription Concerns, and Part 3, Exercise Testing, are more involved with applied physiological principles. These sections cover prescribing exercise for the well-conditioned patient, upper extremity exercise, energy cost of occupational work, counseling for leisure activity, the importance of behavioral intervention, and the different approaches to exercise testing.

The last section, Drug and Nondrug Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease, is a very short discussion on the nonpharmacological and pharmacological treatment of the disease, including sections on the effects of sodium and fat restriction, weight reduction, exercise, smoking, and alcohol on hypertension and dyslipidemia.

The material in this text is well written and organized. The outlines presented in the discussions of the performance appraisal, job descriptions, and steps for a leisure-counseling program are concise and clear. One outstanding feature of the text is the degree of research cited, which can be used to clarify points made in the text.

Much of this book is concerned with managerial information, so those physical therapy practitioners searching for resource material about the basics of cardiac rehabilitation would do well to find another source of information. Because the text is well written and cites knowledgeable references, however, it is well suited for those individuals initiating new cardiac rehabilitation programs (who already have obtained entry-level competencies in cardiac rehabilitation) or for those professionals working in existing programs, to upgrade their procedures. Students probably would find this text useful only for research and reference.