Achieving better hypertension control for patients requires thinking outside of typical clinic visits.
Fam Pract Manag. 2023;30(4):12-16
Author disclosures: no relevant financial relationships.
Ideal hypertension management includes checking a patient's blood pressure (BP) in the office or ensuring the patient is correctly using a validated BP monitor at home, consistently recognizing when BP is above goal, discussing an adjusted treatment plan with the patient, following up to monitor the effect of any intervention, and continuing with frequent follow-up care until the patient achieves BP control consistent with national guidelines.4
Despite this clear treatment path, improving rates of hypertension control has proven challenging. Barriers include suboptimal clinic workflows, limited staffing, multiple competing patient concerns, and limited appointment availability.
Focusing only on the individual dynamics of the physician-patient encounter has limited potential for improving outcomes in this area. Instead, improved hypertension control requires taking a team-based and patient-centered approach and developing workflows outside of typical clinic visits. There is not a one-size-fits-all solution, as it depends on staffing challenges and clinic resources, but we present two different models that have improved hypertension control at two of our primary care sites.
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