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1. The Role of a Nurse in Preventing
Illnesses

2. Today, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have become the leading cause of mortality
throughout the world. According to WHO’s (2013) report, 17.3 million people die from
heart diseases annually in the world. Notably, 80% of CVDs deaths take place in low
and middle-income countries whose populations are exposed to multiple risk factors,
while having limited or absent access to timely medical treatment. Most CVDs deaths
could be prevented if addressing risk factors that are tobacco smoking, unhealthy food,
sedentary life style, and high blood pressure. The objective of this paper is to have a
closer look at each of the mentioned factors and identify how a nurse could address
them contributing to creation of a healthy community. By exploring these issues, the
paper aims to test the following research hypothesis: A nurse is an important agent of
change whose professional activity could become a contribution to reducing the number
of CVDs deaths throughout the world.
The Role of a Nurse in Reducing the Rates of Tobacco Smoking
Tobacco smoking occupies a leading place among the factors triggering CVDs
diseases. In turn, smoking cessation is the most important step one can make towards
healthy living (Youdan & Queally, 2005). Though smoking cessation is a personal
choice, most patients find it hard to quit smoking without assistance. In this instance, a
registered nurse (RN) could become such assistant. Today, there exist an algorithm

3. using which a RN helps a smoker to put an end with this harmful habit. The first step
towards smoking cessation should be patient’s awareness of the negative effects of
smoking. Often, referencing to statistics is sufficiently good reason to make a choice in
favour of a healthy lifestyle. According to the Malaysian Insider (2013), nearly 6 million
people die due to smoking worldwide annually. Notably, many smokers are unaware of
the correlation existing between tobacco smoking and CVDs. According to the survey
conducted in 2009, only 38 per cent of Chinese tobacco smokers knew that this bad
habit causes coronary heart disease, while only 27 per cent of them knew smoking
triggers heart strokes (Malaysian Insider, 2013). A RN, thus, should take care that
patients know the risks associated with smoking.
Another important step towards smoking cessation is to provide patients wanting to quit
the bad habit with a quit plan (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2005).
This plan comprises a quit day that is often within 2 weeks of …