(CCCNP005) RECOGNIZING THE RISKS TO WOMEN FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: AN INITIATIVE IN THE CARDIAC IMAGING PROGRAM

Background: Recent studies have shown non-traditional cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors to include some of the following: premature menopause, pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational diabetes, and autoimmune disease. Most Canadian women have at least one risk factor for CVD, yet despite public awareness, there is still significant knowledge gaps among Canadian women about these risks. The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) Cardiac Imaging Department nursing staff participated in the Women’s Heart Health Education Day held by the institute in the fall of 2022 to better equip and understand the CVD risks posed to women. Recognizing these risks, the nursing staff sought to develop an initiative to better assess the CVD risk factors for female patients (and those assigned the female sex at birth), and to increase their awareness.

Purpose: Improving the nursing assessment and education of female-specific cardiovascular risk factors in the Cardiac Imaging department.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The nursing staff completed a literature review of assessment tools for cardiovascular risk factors and conducted an environmental scan to evaluate the current standard of practice for assessment and education of patients undergoing a cardiac Computerized Tomography (CT) procedure. The nursing staff also conducted a focus group with patient partners. The initiative was presented, and the patients were given the opportunity to provide qualitative feedback.
The literature review and environmental scan yielded limited assessment tools and education resources of risk factors for female patients undergoing a cardiac CT. Therefore, the nursing staff, in collaboration with institutional experts on women heart health developed a more comprehensive assessment tool for assessing female specific risk factors for patients undergoing a cardiac CT. A resource tool for educating the patients and raising awareness was developed. To assess the effectiveness of the intervention, a survey was developed to assess the patients’ satisfaction and confidence level to discuss their specific risk factors with the primary care provider, after receiving the education from the nurse at cardiac CT.
Focus group qualitative data was analyzed by the nursing staff, and two themes were interpreted: “Knowledge is power” and “Optimizing the questions” (Table 1).

Conclusion: The nursing staff adapted the initiative to the patient’s feedback from the focus group. These changes included edits to the assessment and survey questions to further improve the nursing assessment of staff in CT area (Figure 1). The nursing staff is now implementing this initiative with the goal of empowering female patients through education and better understanding of their cardiovascular health.