Cardiology Best Practice – Effective Health Education Meets Biomedical Advances: Reducing the Ultimate Knowledge Translation Gap

Abstract

The long-term outcomes of biomedical advances in cardiology and surgery, the focus of this book, fall short of their potential unless coupled with changes in patients’ lifestyle behaviors. Within the context of a busy, resourceand time-constrained practice, this chapter presents practical and effective evidence-informed strategies for health education that can be readily implemented by the cardiologist and surgeon. Given the unequivocal link between lifestyle behaviors and ischemic heart disease, ‘healthy living’ not only promises to augment a patient’s health overall and reduce the need for drugs and surgery but, when biomedical interventions are indicated, it can augment their outcomes.