34 NJI-Oct-2015 E veryday, the heart quietly does its business, pumping blood and oxygen to organs and sustaining human life. It’s as natural as breathing, but when someone is suddenly smitten with a heart attack or faces the onset of cardiac dis- ease, the consequences can be enormous, impact- ing not only the body but the person’s emotional state. With age, individuals become more suscep- tible to cardio vascular diseases. Deaths due to car- diovascular disease account for 24 percent of total deaths, mortality is higher in urban than in rural ar- eas, and is much more prevalent among the upper and middle classes. In 1960, this represented four percent of all deaths, versus more than 50 percent in 1990. According to World Health Organisation, coronary artery disease death rates are currently about three times higher than stroke rates. In the 1950s, Hellerstein presented his meth- odology for the comprehensive rehabilitation of pa- tients recovering from an acute cardiac event. Car- diac rehabilitation is the restoration of a person to optimal state of function in 6 areas: physical, physiologic, mental, spiritual, economic and vo- cational. The purpose of cardiac rehabilitation is to provide comprehensive, multifaceted treatment, education, and secondary prevention for cardiac patients and individuals with heart disease risk factors, to aid recovery and prevent recurrence of heart problems. Cardiac rehabilitation is an education programme designed to improve the patient’s quality of life af- ter a heart attack or another heart problem. It is important for the nurses in cardiac unit to become familiar with various types of cardiac problems (Singh, 2010). Girish Degavi 1 , Preeti R Bhupali 2 The author is: 1. MSc (N), Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, KLEU Institute of Nursing Sciences, Belgaum (Karnataka). Guide: 2. Asso Prof, Dept of Medical Surgical Nursing, KLEU Inst of Nursing Sciences, Belgaum (Karnataka). The objectives of the study were: (1) To assess the knowledge regarding cardiac rehabilitation among staff nurses, (2) To evaluate the effectiveness of planned teaching programme (PTP) on knowledge regarding cardiac rehabilitation among staff nurses, and (3) To find the association between the pre-test knowledge scores with selected socio demographic variables among staff nurses. Hypotheses H 1 : The mean post-test knowledge scores of the nurses exposed to PTP will be significantly greater than their mean pre-test knowledge scores at 0.05 level of significance. H 2 : There will be a statistically significant associa- tion between the pre-test level of knowledge scores and selected socio demographic variables at 0.05 level of significance. Review of literature Knowledge regarding cardiac rehabilitation: In a retro- spective study by University of Newcastle to assess the Staff nurses’ knowledge on cardiac rehabilitation with 157 cardiovascular nurses the overall mean score for the knowledge scale was 9.6 (SD 1.9), which was signifi- cantly higher (t=7.5, p<0.001). The nurses’ score was not significantly associated with experience or place of work. For the misconception scale the mean score for nurses was 6.8 (SD 1.5), which was significantly higher (t=6.85, p<0.001) for nurses working in specialised car- diac wards and well experienced nurses had significantly higher scores. The study concluded that advanced train- ing personnel should enhance nurses’ skills in patient education and rehabilitation. Staff nurses should be pro- vided with knowledge on cardiac rehabilitation and risks so that they can educate patients accordingly. In an observational study by the School of Nurs- ing & Midwifery, University of Western Sydney, With a view to improve cardiac rehabilitation, an evaluative study was undertaken to as- sess the impact of planned teaching programme on 40 staff nurses of a hospital in Belgaum (Karnataka). The findings indicated that there was significant improvement in knowledge of staff nurses along various parameters after administering planned teaching programme.