Effectiveness of a family nurse‐led programme on accuracy of blood pressure self‐measurement: A randomised controlled trial

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)-led programme on the degree of adherence of current recommendations on home blood pressure self-measurement (HBPM) as compared to routine care and management. BACKGROUND: HBPM plays an important role for monitoring hypertensive patients; however, patients' adherence to current guidelines is unsatisfactory. A nurse-led training programme in the community setting could be an effective strategy to achieve high level of patients' adherence to recommendations. DESIGN: A multicentre randomised controlled trial was carried out from September 2016 to September 2017. METHODS: In total, 170 patients were randomly allocated into the intervention group (n = 83) and the usual care (n = 87). All participants received usual care (written and verbal information on HBPM recommendations); subjects in the intervention group also received 1-hour training session on how to correctly self-measure BP. Clinical trial registration was done (ClinicalTrials.gov.: NCT04681703). The CONSORT checklist for randomised controlled trials was used in this study. RESULTS: At baseline, the level of adherence to the recommendation was similar in the two groups (p 5 min before performing the measurement (all p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The FNP-led programme is effective in improving patients' adherence to guidelines on the correct technique to self-measure BP at home. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This programme may be added to the existing interventions in the community setting or considered into specifically nurse-led hypertension management models.