Roles of nurses and health workers in cardiovascular health promotion

Community-based nurses and health workers who supplement physician office- based practice are known to be effective in promoting cardiovascular health. They enhance the effectiveness of programs to influence individual and population lifestyles, self-care practices, and long-term adherence to recommendations. As a team they are able to focus on economic, psychosocial, and behavioral factors in culturally relevant ways, often missed in traditional medical care, by attending comprehensively to education, income, employment status, living arrangements, and daily needs. Much can be learned about these teams from the past by reviewing the roles, supporting data, and practice-related issues. There are two important points to be made about the nurse and the community health worker in cardiovascular health promotion: (1) these roles are not new; and (2) reported control rates for high blood pressure and other risk factors are highest when multidisciplinary teams help patients actively participate in the treatment/prevention program. Promoting cardiovascular health across all segments of society with greater emphasis on prevention will require that the barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration and full community partnership be reduced or eliminated.