Nurse Practitioner Wellness Clinic: Development and Strategies for Implementation

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer of women. Surprisingly, only about half of women are aware of this risk. Statistically, heart disease kills about 1 in 5African American and Caucasian women. Lifestyle behavior choices such as obesity, lack of exercise, consuming an unhealthy highly processed diet, smoking, and an intake of greater than1 drink per day of alcohol increases a women’s risk for CVD. These risk factors are avoidable. These lifestyle behavior choices are modifiable and with improvements to each behavior they will decrease the women’s risk. Health and Wellness Coaching is a proven intervention to improve lifestyle behaviors that negatively impact chronic medical conditions. The development of a tailored lifestyle self-management intervention by a Nurse Practitioner in a Nurse Practitioner Wellness Clinic will address each of the lifestyle behavior choices to ultimately decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and provide education that allows these changes to be enduring.