Singapore Prevention & Cardiac Rehabilitation Symposium 2021

Singapore Prevention & Cardiac Rehab Symposium (SPCRS) 2021 returned virtually this year on 23 and 24 Oct. Revolving around the theme “Cardiac Rehabilitation: Emerging from COVID-19”, the event hosted close to 1,500 healthcare professionals and students from 31 countries.

Chairman of SPCRS 2021’s Organising Committee Adj A/Prof Tan Swee Yaw started the event by giving attendees a preview of emerging cardiac rehab trends in his opening address, highlighting the development of telerehabilitation during the pandemic.

Keynote speakers shared about the future of healthcare in a post-COVID-19 world, touching on hot topics such as wearable technology and mental health – A/Prof Marco Perez, co-PI of The Apple Heart study gave an exciting insight into the clinical trial using the Apple Watch to screen for atrial fibrillation; Daniel José Piñeiro, President-Elect of World Heart Federation shared World Heart Federation’s strategies for the next two years to prevent the next pandemic; Prof Susan Dawkes, President of the British Association Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation highlighted the need to address cardiac patients struggling with mental ill-health, and Dr Paul Oh stressed on the importance of medication adherence and solutions to encourage self-management, including smartphone Apps and health e-universities to improve health literacy.

Renowned leaders, local and regional multidisciplinary experts were also invited to speak at the biennial event, sharing their best practices, experiences and learnings from the past year and advances in preventive medicine and cardiac rehab.

Stretching exercises, quizzes and a drumming performance by the SHF Healthy Heart Support Group kept viewers engaged between sessions.

Other highlights of the symposium included oral presentations of the best abstracts submitted in the lead up to the event and a plenary session by SHF Chairman Emeritus Dr Low Lip Ping on “Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: A Call to Action”.