A Healthy Monday for NYU Langone’s Rusk Rehabilitation Program

NYU Langone’s Rusk Rehabilitation team developed an enhancement to its rehabilitation program, with a Healthy Monday online intervention to improve patient learning and participation in rehab activities. Rusk Rehabilitation staff collaborated with the Healthy Monday program team to design a 13-week program to educate patients about the physical and psychological effects of health activities as well as encourage them to perform the related practices for stress management, physical activity, and healthy eating. Much of the material was selected from the existing Healthy Monday portfolio, while some custom materials were developed with guidance from the Rusk Rehabilitation team to address specific needs of the cardiac rehab patients.

A weekly email was delivered  through the MyChart system, connecting patients to a dedicated landing page hosted on The Monday Campaigns website, where additional information and weekly practices were available. Every Monday throughout the weekly cycle, patients were encouraged to learn about the benefits of each practice, perform the practice, then complete a short survey regarding their engagement. The program was offered in constant rotation, so patients could start at any time during the 13-week cycle, and even repeat the cycle if desired.

Preliminary data collected from the weekly surveys and end-of-program surveys found that more than half of the patients who received the emails opened the message, and nearly all members of that group said that they were likely to try the recommended activity. The survey also showed that the messages were considered valuable by the recipients and that the messages actually helped them stay on track with their health.

Because of these initial positive results, Rusk Rehabilitation and Healthy Monday teams continue to deliver the program and will conduct another round of evaluation to gather more feedback and refine it. The program will eventually be offered to other hospitals and health systems to supplement their existing cardiac rehabilitation programs, especially if it continues to show promise in facilitating greater patient engagement in self-driven rehabilitation activities.