What is the World Health Organization’s Package of Interventions for Rehabilitation, and why should I care? Paper IV: What is the World Health Organisation’s Package of Interventions for Rehabilitation in Cardiopulmonary Conditions, and Why Should I Care?

Background
In this fourth paper of the series, we discuss Module 4 of the WHO’s Package of Interventions, PIR – Cardiopulmonary Conditions, together with its satellite material—namely the appendix addressing the evidence base for the recommendations included in the guidance. This appendix specifically refers to high-quality clinical practice guidelines as well as Cochrane systematic reviews.

Aims
As in the entire series, we examine the document from the perspective of physiotherapy recommendations within a multidisciplinary approach to functioning and functioning-oriented interventions.

Material and Methods
This work forms part of a series of brief communications with the characteristics of a narrative review. It is understood as a scientific endeavour that allows the authors the freedom to raise questions and stimulate discussion, while formulating opinions that are as balanced as possible and grounded in available data rather than intuition.

Results and Conclusions
We briefly summarise the module and present recommendations for ischaemic heart disease (with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease being beyond the scope of this brief paper). As in each paper of the series, we focus on physiotherapy and highlight the experience of Georgia as the first country to adapt the package within its health system. Physiotherapy within the PIR framework lies at the core of rehabilitation, although the important role of other health professions is also strongly emphasised. The recommendations for ischaemic heart disease clearly reflect this multidisciplinary approach.