AACVPR CCRP study guide
AACVPR CCRP · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Cardiac Rehabilitation Professional (CCRP) is a certification offered by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR) for professionals who deliver cardiac rehabilitation care. According to AACVPR's own site navigation, the credential has a dedicated "About the Exam" page, a "Recertification" page, and a "CCRP Exam Resources" page, and AACVPR offers a separate "CCRP Exam Preparation Course" through its Learning Center. The credential is aimed at the multidisciplinary team that staffs cardiac rehab programs - nurses, exercise physiologists, clinical exercise physiologists, physical and occupational therapists, dietitians, and other clinicians - and is commonly pursued by both new and experienced practitioners who want an objective marker of cardiac rehabilitation knowledge. Because the official content outline, item count, time limit, passing standard, fee, and recertification cycle are published by AACVPR rather than reproduced here, treat this site as a supplement: use the four domains below as a provisional study map, confirm every administrative detail against AACVPR's About the Exam and CCRP Exam Resources pages, and use practice questions to find weak areas before your exam date. The AACVPR CCRP study guide has 4 sections and about 1,907 words.
01Cardiac Rehabilitation Foundations and Program Management
Cardiac rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary, secondary-prevention service, not merely a supervised exercise class. The exam tests whether you can separate program-level structure from the clinical content delivered.
324 words, about 2 min02Patient Assessment and Risk Stratification
Risk stratification matches patient acuity to the level of monitoring and supervision a program can safely deliver. The assessment includes history, physical examination, resting 12-lead ECG, functional capacity, ventricular function, evidence of ischemia or arrhythmia, hemodynamic response to exercise, comorbidities, and medications.
320 words, about 2 min03Exercise Testing and Exercise Training Prescription
A symptom-limited graded exercise test is preferred for prescribing, providing heart rate, blood pressure, ECG, symptom, and functional capacity data. Submaximal tests, the 6-minute walk test, and step tests are alternatives when maximal testing is not feasible.
322 words, about 2 min04Cardiovascular Disease, Pharmacology, and Risk Factor Management
Understand atherosclerosis as the underlying process linking risk factors to events, and be able to distinguish acute coronary syndromes, stable angina, and the revascularization pathways of percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary artery bypass grafting. Know that rehabilitation typically begins early after an uncomplicated myocardial infarction or percutaneous intervention and within a few weeks after bypass surgery, with timing and progression individualized.
941 words, about 5 min