Million Hearts; An Evidence-Based Method for Improving Population Health

Purpose: Million Hearts is a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017, empower and educate Americans to make healthy choices, and to target care by focusing on the “ABCSs.” Appropriate aspirin therapy, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, smoking cessation, and stress management or the “ABCSs” are the foundation of the initiative. Methods: The Ohio State University College of Nursing has founded the National Interprofessional Education and Practice Consortium to Advance Million Hearts (NIEPCAMH) and has developed an online educational program to educate students, faculty and community members on cardiovascular disease prevention with the goal of them screening and educating people in their communities.  Nursing students, interprofessional students, and community nurses are being educated on how to complete evidence based, accurate and focused Million Hearts screenings through an easy 4 step process. The assessments include biometrics (blood pressure, height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference), cholesterol, smoking, and stress screenings. Million Hearts screenings include patient education on normal and abnormal values and counseling/motivational interviewing on individualized preventive lifestyle modifications. Results: Over 100 organizations are participating. Over 4,000 people have accessed the educational program and over 30,000 people have been screened. Conclusions:This Million Hearts educational screening model takes a proactive approach to preventing cardiovascular disease in the community and allows health professions’ students to have a hands-on learning experience in promoting population health.