February is American Heart Month…a great time to remind ourselves of the small, but important actions we can take to prevent heart attacks and strokes. How can we, as healthcare providers and partners, reduce the risk for the patients we care for? One way is to ensure all patients know their ABCS:
- Prescribe appropriate Aspirin therapy for those who would benefit.
- Prioritize control of high Blood pressure and Cholesterol
- Help your patients follow treatment instructions and improve medication adherence.
- Ask your patients about their smoking habits and provide Smoking cessation counseling and tools for smokers.
If you are not already doing so, make a commitment to track and improve the ABCS performance through Health Information Technology (HIT) and quality improvement in your organization:
- Use HIT, such as Electronic Health Records (EHRs) with clinical decision support tools and a patient registry, to improve the delivery of care for the ABCS in patients and populations/panels. For example, use EHR registry functionality regularly to detect those with uncontrolled hypertension or cholesterol and recall them for follow-up.
- Align provider education and quality improvement initiatives to focus on and improve the ABCS.
- Recognize and reward healthcare providers who address and promote the ABCS in their patients.
- Connect with other other clinicians in your community in a Learning and Action Network aimed at improving ABCS in your patients.
As a healthcare community, we must help drive awareness of the initiative to improve care and outcomes related to heart health. Learn more about Million Hearts® and ways to protect our hearts (and the hearts of our patients) during February and throughout the year. Our role is vital to the success in preventing heart attacks and strokes. Let’s commit to doing better.
Learn more about our efforts to improve heart health and access resources and tools on our cardiac health page. Join our Learning and Action Network or contact a Great Plains QIN staff member today.