How is the organisational settings, content and availability of comprehensive multidisciplinary pulmonary rehabilitation for people with COPD in primary healthcare in Norway: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the organisational settings, content and availability of comprehensive multidisciplinary pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programmes for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in primary healthcare in Norway.

DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional survey study examining the content, organisational settings and availability of comprehensive multidisciplinary PR for people with COPD.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

When the survey was conducted, Norway had 436 municipalities/primary healthcare services who were invited to participate.

OUTCOME MEASURES

The main outcome was the question related to accessibility to a PR programme in primary healthcare. We also examined in what degree the single interventions which are a part of a PR programme were one of the municipalities services and if there were regional differences regarding PR.

RESULTS

Of the 436 municipalities, 158 answered the survey (36% response rate), and the survey covered for 45% of the total population in Norway. Five per cent of the responders reported having multidisciplinary PR for patients with COPD. The most frequently reported single interventions that can be a part of a multidisciplinary PR programme were reported as follows: group exercise training for all diagnoses (27%), reablement (25%) and home-care treatment by a physiotherapist and/or occupational therapist (24%). Southern-Eastern Norway had a significantly lower number of these interventions than Western Norway, Central Norway, and Northern Norway (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

Only 5% of the Norwegian primary healthcare services (municipalities) had a multidisciplinary PR programme for patients with COPD. PR is the most important and cost-effective treatment within integrated care of patients with COPD. National strategies are therefore needed to increase the availability of PR for patients with COPD in Norwegian municipalities.