February 2025 Blog: Heroes in Heart Scrubs: Celebrating Nurses and Heart Health
Happy Primary Care Nurses Day (5th February) to all the incredible nurses working tirelessly across many healthcare settings. If you haven’t already thanked, high-fived, or treated a hard-working Primary Care Nurse colleague to a coffee (hint, hint), today is the perfect day to show your appreciation.
As we acknowledge the vital role of nurses, it’s also a good time to reflect on heart health—an area where primary care teams can make a significant impact. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in Australia with 183,131 deaths in 2023. However, recent advancements in prevention, detection, and management continue to provide new research and tools to tackle this challenge (ABS, 2023). Let’s take a closer look at some updates that support our work to reduce the number of patients at risk of or living with heart disease.
Important MBS Updates to Heart Health Assessment
One such update is the development and implementation of the Australian CVD risk calculator launched in July 2023 which helps to assess and manage cardiovascular disease.
- You will find the link to the Australian CVD risk calculator and guidelines conveniently embedded in some clinical software.
Make sure you note the recent changes to the Heart Health Assessment (MBS Item 699 and 177) description, which states, ‘the absolute cardiovascular disease risk is calculated as per the Australian Absolute Cardiovascular Disease Risk Calculator’ (MBS Online, 2025).
- Are you using the updated Australian CVD risk calculator as part of your Heart Health Assessments?
Since its introduction in April 2019, the Heart Health Assessment has been well-utilised and over 770,000 heart checks have been performed. The Heart Health Assessment is an excellent opportunity for medical practitioners to engage with individuals who may not regularly visit their GP for routine health checks or assessments.
- Notably, recent updates to the Heart Health Assessment MBS item description, now allow a heart health assessment item to be claimed even if the person has had an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Health Assessment in the previous 12 months (MBS Online, 2025).
These changes are positive steps towards ensuring at-risk populations can access important chronic disease prevention and detection activities.
Ongoing Research in Heart Health
While the majority of patients who experience a heart attack have many of the common modifiable risk factors such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and smoking, further research by experienced clinicians is seeking to understand the smaller, yet still tragically large portion of patients who have a heart attack despite not demonstrating the typical risks (Click here to read Professor Gemma Figtree’s article ‘A Quest for Zero Heart Attacks’).
Heart Research Australia’s REDFEB - is a chance to raise awareness and funds for heart disease research while also thanking our healthcare heroes. Let’s support life-saving research while also making the most of available funding and tools to identify patients at risk of heart disease.
Show your support by wearing heart-themed scrubs – an excellent way to spread awareness and appreciation. Click here to explore gift ideas for dedicated healthcare workers.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2023). Causes of Death, Australia. ABS. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/causes-death-australia/latest-release
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (2024, November 25). Medicare Benefits Schedule - Item 699. MBS Online. Retrieved January 15, 2025, from https://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/Home
Figtree, G. (2023). A Quest for Zero Heart Attacks. Scientia. https://www.scientia.global/wp-content/uploads/Gemma_Figtree/Gemma-Figtree.pdf
Heart Research Australia (n.d.). This February, we invite you to wear RED for someone close to your heart. Retrieved January 20, 2025, from https://www.heartresearch.com.au/redfeb/
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/showcase/Documents/2019/fun-scrubs.pdf