The idea behind the Teledi@log research and innovation project is to develop telerehabilitation concepts and technologies, so that all types of heart patients, regardless of severity, can be offered individualised, differentiated and coordinated telerehabilitation across sectors.

The project is innovative and challenges the limits of existing national and international research projects in this area. The existing rehabilitation offered to cardiac patients in Denmark is inadequate. Only 3% of the more than 86,000 Danes hospitalized each year with cardiovascular disorders receive some kind of rehabilitation (Hjerteforeningen 2010). The same low level of participation in cardiac rehabilitation is found in Europe and in the U.S. The objective of this project is to:

• Identify the needs of heart patients and their family members for rehabilitation and tele-rehabilitation in the health care system.
• Develop a telerehabilitation program for cardiac patients and their families.
• Prevent readmission of heart patients via more individualized rehabilitation efforts using telerehabilitation technologies.
• Research heart patients and their families as actors in their own rehabilitation process with the use of new technologies.
• Research the experiences of heart patients, families and health professionals in their use of remote rehabilitation technologies, including social media.
• Research the implementation of a telerehabilitation program on a larger scale viewed from an inter-organisational perspective.
• Assess the health economy potentials for implementing a telerehabilitation program for heart patients across the cardiological and cardio-surgical specialties, sectors and municipal boundaries.

User-driven innovation has been the starting point for identifying cardiac patients’ acknowledged and un-acknowledged need for participation in rehabilitation. An interdisciplinary research team has visited cardiac patients in their own homes. Workshops have also been held with representatives from private companies, public organizations and researchers. Through this process, scenarios have been identified and tools developed for use in the telerehabilitation of cardiac patients.