The Unmet Educational Needs of Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease Setting the Stage for Tailored Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Rationale: There is no standardized education program for patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). Pulmonary rehabilitation is a resource for structured disease education that is still geared primarily toward patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Objectives: The goals of this qualitative study were to identify the educational needs of patients with ILD and explore how pulmonary rehabilitation can become an appropriate setting for ILD education. Methods: Four focus groups including 24 patients with ILD and 10 semistructured interviews with healthcare professionals with expertise in ILD and/or pulmonary rehabilitation were conducted in two academic centers (University of California San Francisco and Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal). We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of the transcripts using an iteratively developed codebook. Measurements and Main Results: The transcript analysis highlighted four major themes: patient dissatisfaction with the current educational model, lack of attention to emotional well-being, specific recommendations for educational content, and operationalizing education in the context of pulmonary rehabilitation. Seven key topics to be included an ILD-specific, pulmonary rehabilitation-based education program were identified: disease education, symptom management, clinical tests, autonomy, oxygen use, medications, and end-of-life counseling. Conclusions: This study provides a better understanding of the needs of patients and healthcare providers regarding education of patients with ILD. It lays the foundation for the development of a structured education intervention that could be delivered in the context of pulmonary rehabilitation.