ESC Florence Nightingale Lecture in Nurse-Led Research
Don’t miss a beat: Why advocacy is a responsibility and opportunity for all cardiovascular professionals
29 Aug 2025
The presenter of this year’s ESC Florence Nightingale Lecture in Nurse-Led Research is Professor Donna Fitzsimons (Queens University Belfast - Belfast, UK), whose commitment to patient engagement has led to improvements in the quality of both the patient experience and care through education and research.
What are the key themes of your lecture?
I want to reaffirm the importance of advocacy in clinical practice. We have good data, evidence and statistics to paint a picture of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the burden it places on society. However, what is often missing is the story behind the statistics – the suffering and the cost that is paid by millions in society who have experienced the impact of CVD, either themselves or through a loved one. Advocacy is about giving people a voice and supporting patients to better deal with CVD and its consequences.
All professional healthcare workers have an opportunity and, indeed, duty to advocate for patients. That said, many healthcare professionals don't really understand what this involves, even though they are probably doing it every day within their job by trying to get better equipment, services or treatment plans etc. for their patients. As an example of what can be done on a wider local scale, my research highlighted the anxiety and uncertainty felt by patients on the waiting list for coronary artery bypass surgery – this captured the attention of the media and led to improved services and support.
It’s a strange anomaly that while we’ve been very successful in describing CVD as a fairly preventable condition, we have been less effective in getting policies in place to make sure that the food we eat, the air we breathe and the environment in which we work is conducive to good cardiovascular health. Exposure to advocacy at a policy level within the European Union over the last few years has shaped my understanding of what politicians require to enable them to effectively advocate for better CVD prevention and treatment programmes. Many politicians are in roles outside the healthcare arena and it’s our responsibility to give them the information they require about how CVD is relevant to their brief in language they understand. It’s very exciting to see the promise of a Cardiovascular Health Plan for Europe, made possible only through the joint action of the ESC and other organisations in the European Alliance for Cardiovascular Health in brokering this agenda with politicians.
What are the most important current challenges and opportunities?
A major challenge is time. The healthcare arena is very demanding and its professionals are busy people. But it’s important to remember that dealing solely with the patients in the clinic will not tackle the growing number of people developing CVD upstream. It is also crucial that we build the skills and confidence needed to advocate effectively – this doesn’t always come naturally. A key element is to identify and focus on the communication methods that will be most effective in connecting with our intended audience, whether that be patients and their loved ones or national and European policy makers.
In terms of opportunities, the EU Cardiovascular Health Plan has yet to be fleshed out, giving healthcare professionals a significant chance to play a part in developing effective policies and securing grants for patient-centred research, with the aim of generating a much healthier cardiovascular future for all.
