The Effect of Visual Sternal Precautions on Behavioral Intentions and Readmissions

Eligible subjects will be identified by the Senior Cardiothoracic Physical Therapist (Dr. Craig D. Feinman, PT, DPT) on staff at North Shore University Hospital. Dr. Feinman will provide basic study information to potential subjects and refer those that are interested in the study to the research team who will then provide a copy of the consent form and more information about the study. Inclusion Criteria represents post-surgical adult patients who had a median or midline sternotomy incision during cardiac surgery at North-Shore University Hospital. Exclusion Criteria represents patients with dementia or those that are cognitively impaired will be excluded from the study. A T-test or Mann Whitney U test will be use to compare group differences on continuous variables, e.g. age. Beta regression or logistic regression model will be developed for the outcomes of adherence and readmission proportions/rates. To assess changes from pre to post training on behavioral intentions a paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed rank for matched pairs will be used. A result will be considered statistically significant at the p\<0.05 level of significance. All analyses will be performed using SAS version 9.3 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC).