Training health professionals and lay volunteers to deliver cholesterol screening and education programs

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health launched the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) in 1985. With the goal of reducing the prevalence of elevated blood cholesterol in the United States, the NCEP aims to raise awareness and understanding in both health professionals and the general public of high blood cholesterol levels as a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Public interest in blood cholesterol measurement has created an enormous market for cholesterol screening and education programs. The importance of quality screening and educational services was recognized by the NCEP, which has urged the training of all personnel involved in public cholesterol screenings. This paper presents models for training lay volunteers and health professionals to deliver quality public screening programs for high blood cholesterol that are consistent with NCEP recommendations. Blood cholesterol screening, counseling, and referral (SCORE) programs are key intervention strategies of the Pawtucket Heart Health Program (PHHP), a cardiovascular disease prevention research program in Pawtucket, RI. This paper describes the PHHP volunteer training and certification program for cholesterol SCOREs and the demographics of screening volunteers. With the goal of improving the quality of cholesterol screening and education programs nationally, the Cholesterol Training Center (CTC) was established in 1988. Using models established by PHHP, the center developed training workshops to help health professionals initiate, update, expand, or enhance training for cholesterol screening and education programs. CTC training protocols and the characteristics of workshop participants are described, and the workshops' effects on participants' knowledge and self-sufficiency are discussed.