Educational Module and Course Integration

Background: Million Hearts™ is a national initiative launched by the Department of Health and Human Services in September 2011 to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes in five years. The Ohio State University College of Nursing has launched the Million Hearts^™interprofessional educational module as part of our National Interprofessional Education and Practice Consortium to Advance Million Hearts.

Aims:This educational module— designed by Ohio State faculty from medicine, nursing and pharmacy—is intended to assist health professionals, faculty, and health professional students learn about how they can impact population health through the Million Hearts™ national initiative.

Methods: Colleges across the country are participating by having their students complete the free module, which takes approximately four hours and entails 4 easy steps.  The first step involves watching a series of four focused lectures. Content includes an overview of the Million Hearts^™initiative, how to complete an accurate and comprehensive Million Hearts™ screening, how to interpret normal and abnormal values and counsel on preventive lifestyle modifications, and a sample triage protocol for screenings. The second step is completing the screenings in the community. The third step requires students to enter data on the 10 people for whom they conducted Million Hearts™ screenings, which allows the tracking of the number of people impacted. The final step is taking a post-test. Upon passing the test, students are certified as Million Hearts™ Fellows and are able to print a Million Heart Fellow certificate.

Findings: Undergraduate community health and leadership courses, graduate nurse practitioner courses, and independent study courses have integrated Million Hearts™ content and the importance of population health into their curricula.

Implications: The educational module will track the number of people reached with Million Hearts^™ and demonstrate the impact of health professions joining together to promote population health.