Country to Coast Queensland’s Primary Health Coordinator for Wide Bay Ellen McDermott presented a conference poster on PHASES and the important role of practice nurses in cardiovascular disease prevention at the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) Festival of Nursing 30 July – 1 August 2026.
Nurses as co-leads in prevention
Three key takeaways from Ellen’s presentation were:
- Practice nurses are central to identifying hidden risks, supporting earlier assessment and driving patient behaviour change.
- Utilise the ‘time in the waiting room’ before seeing the GP, to add value to patient care.
- Everyday appointments can reveal risk factors before symptoms of CVD appear.
Project impact
Between February and May 2026, the Primary Sense CVD Risk Screening, Recall & Treatment Report was used 460 times across participating practices. This demonstrates strong uptake of fit-for-purpose reporting to support systematic cardiovascular risk identification and management.
The poster also identified non-financial benefits of the whole-of-practice approach to CVD prevention, including:
- Greater sense of purpose for practice teams
- Front desk teams knowing patients better
- Rethinking “time in the waiting room” as an opportunity for prevention
- Greater scope for nurses to add value to patient care
- More engaged and connected patients.
