Contemporary Perspectives on Preparing Nurse Leaders for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), which incorporates heart disease and stroke, remains the world's leading cause of death, and the burden across the globe continues to escalate. Cardiovascular nurses play a vital role in reducing the global burden of cardiovascular disease through their multiple leadership opportunities and focus on prevention. From serving as an informal or formal clinical leader, case manager, educator, mentor for emerging cardiovascular nurses or nurse leaders, champion for quality of care, or policy advocate, as examples, cardiovascular nurse leaders can have a profound impact on improving outcomes for individuals, families, and communities. As leaders, cardiovascular nurses must be prepared for their roles through development of leadership competencies to ultimately shape decisions in their settings, whether in clinical care, management, education, advanced practice, and research or through community and professional organizations. This article revisits the competencies required of nurse leaders to be effective in cardiovascular disease prevention and improving outcomes in a changing global healthcare environment. Case scenarios exemplifying leadership competencies in action were also provided.