Educating your patients
It is vital that patients who have hypertension understand the causes of the condition, why and how it is treated, and which treatments are available and recommended.
When discussing the condition with your patients, start by exploring their current knowledge and then provide additional information, such as:
- Explain to the patient how their medicine works
- Inform them of the rationale behind taking more than one medicine to control their blood pressure
- Discuss the benefits of home blood pressure monitoring
- Discuss practicalities, such as repeat prescriptions, tips to help them remember to take their medicines, and enlisting the support of family, friends or a guardian
- Provide them with written information, or direct them to useful websites.
Remember, if you can lower patients’ blood pressure by 10mmHg, you will reduce the number of strokes and heart attacks in your community.2 You can make a massive difference by helping the patient to change their health behaviours.
References
1. NICE 2011, CG No 127. Available at: nice.org.uk/guidance/cg127/chapter/introduction
2. Guidelines for management of hypertension: report of the fourth working party of the British Hypertension Society, 2004—BHS IV. B Williams et al. Journal of Human Hypertension (2004) 18, 139–185
3. Double-blind randomised crossover trial of moderate sodium restriction in essential hypertension MacGregor et al. Lancet. 1982 Feb 13;1(8268):351-5
4. Hypertension and ethnic group. Brown MJ, BMJ. 2006 Apr 8; 332(7545): 833–836.
5. Health Survey for England, 2011-2013.
6. Inorganic nitrate supplementation lowers blood pressure in humans: role for nitrite-derived NO. Kapil V et al. Hypertension. 2010 Aug;56(2):274-81
7. bhf.org.uk/heart-health/risk-factors/smoking (accessed December 2017)
8. Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2015, Office for National Statistics
9. bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Yourlifestyle/Beingactive (accessed December 2017)
10. NICE 2009, CG no 76. Available at: nice.org.uk/guidance/cg76
11. Risk Factors for Nonadherence to Antihypertensive Treatment, Gupta P et al. Hypertension. 2017 Jun;69(6):1113-1120
12. Blood pressure control by home monitoring: meta-analysis of randomised trials. Cappuccio, Francesco P., et al. Bmj 329.7458 (2004): 145
13. Efficacy of a home blood pressure monitoring programme on therapeutic compliance in hypertension: the EAPACUM–HTA study. Marquez-Contreras, Emilio, et al. Journal of hypertension 24.1 (2006): 169-175