Multi-Disciplinary Health Prevention: St. Paul’s Hospital Healthy Heart Program

Abstract

The Healthy Heart Program is a team-based interdisciplinary program focused on the primary and secondary prevention of heart disease. Patients are incorporated into a health care team consisting of a physician, nurse educator, dietitian, pharmacist, exercise therapist, and counselor.  The multi-disciplinary aspect of the program highlights that heart disease is a multi-faceted problem – risk factors cannot be addressed simply with drugs or diet alone, but only through coordinated pharmacologic and lifestyle changes. The Healthy Heart program can serve as an invaluable model for clinics aimed at the prevention and management of other chronic diseases.