Nurse Practitioner–Directed Cardio-Diabetes Pilot Program

Abstract Historically, antihyperglycemics for patients with Type 2 diabetes have not been managed by cardiology clinicians. This paradigm has shifted after the release of cardiovascular (CV) outcome trials using 2 new classes of antihyperglycemics agents, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors or glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists, which demonstrated a decrease in all-cause mortality, CV death, and stroke. The purpose of this pilot program was to translate this trial data into practice by developing a protocol for cardiology-based nurse practitioners (NPs) to initiate these agents. Cardiology NPs demonstrated the feasibility of initiating these agents within a cardiology practice using a shared decision-making, patient-centric framework.