The role of nurses in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases

Introduction: Support of cardiovascular health is an important part of the strategy of national and international health projects. In the primary prevention of cardiovascular public health, an important role may be played by nurse-educators.Objective: The aim of this paper is to analyse available research surveys that focus on the activities of nurses in the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.Materials and methods: We defined a search strategy based on the keywords. For the literature review we used the MEDVIK, MEDLINE and CINAHL databases. We also utilized the services of the National Medical Library in Prague and the National Centre of Nursing and Non-medical Health Professions in Brno. Based on the entry criteria we found 48 Czech and 113 international records. For further analysis we used 20 Czech records and 70 foreign records, containing full texts related to the topic. Before the analysis we also eliminated the duplicates of published research investigations. We used 23 scientific articles for the literature review. The analysis included a study results methodology analysis and a comparison of the data with other studies.Conclusion: The research survey showed that the mere transmission of information is not sufficiently effective in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. In this respect, long term cooperation with patients focusing on their approach to health seems crucial. The educational activities of nurses play a big role because nursing is traditionally associated with the care of the healthy and the ill. The development of nurses' educational skills provides them with quality professional foundations that they can fully utilize to support their clients' health. However, there arises the need for more research aimed at mapping nurses' interventions in preventive cardiology.