Abstract

Background
The Brief Lung Exercise & Education Programme (BLEEP) was an 8-month pilot programme, hosted under the Hampshire & Isle of Wight NHS Trust Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) service. BLEEP was a 2-hour session which was co-produced with a local respiratory charity group, focussing on lung anatomy and disease, respiratory medications, managing exacerbations and the importance of exercise. The aim was to improve patient accessibility to respiratory knowledge and subsequently enhance throughput to a traditional six-week PR programme.

Results
Over an 8-month period, 160 patients chose to attend the BLEEP sessions for their programme intervention, with a 58% attendance rate (n=93).
Outcomes for the programme were obtained in 3 areas:
1. Condition knowledge, management and motivation was significantly different post session (2.72 – 2.94 on a 10-point Likert scale),
2. Educational knowledge ranged from 65-89% positive in educational content understanding
3. Sessional feedback included 46% of patient reporting that they would have declined or dropped out of PR if BLEEP did not exist – ‘the PR course doesn’t fit with my work commitments’.
80% patients reported they believe the BLEEP session would make them more likely to commit to the programme
Despite this positive feedback, only 10.7% of the patients signed up for the PR programme, showing limitations in the conversion rate of this programme.
Equating PR to 20 hours per patient of specialist assessments, intervention and re-assessments, the availability of the BLEEP project could save up to 700 hours’ worth of direct clinical time within this pilot period.

Lessons learned & application
Respiratory education-only approaches are feasible and well received by patients and may augment healthcare utilisation in the same manner as other long-term conditions e.g. DESMOND for Diabetes, with patients showing improvements in knowledge, confidence and education.
The education session does not need to sit within PR services as this didn’t convert to favourable uptake for this intervention. However, the exist of this session frees up PR service availability for those not wishing to partake in the formal programme to receive their education.