Evaluating Your Progress - Pulmonary Rehabilitation: Respiratory Health
Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School
Evaluating your progress
An essential part of pulmonary rehabilitation is outcomes assessment, in which a doctor, nurse, or therapist periodically checks your symptoms and measures your physical abilities to track your improvement. One type of assessment involves using a treadmill, exercise bicycle, or six-minute walk test to see how much longer and more intensely you can exercise over time. Other assessment tools include questionnaires that ask you about your symptoms and have you rate your overall sense of well-being.
You will also get pulmonary function tests. Don't be discouraged if your pulmonary function tests fail to improve appreciably during rehabilitation — in general, the readings don't get much better. It is far more likely that you'll have fewer symptoms, you'll feel better, and you'll be able to participate in more activities. These are the goals of pulmonary rehabilitation.
| Last updated: | May 23, 2007 |
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Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.
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