Key result
A simple visual aid and provider prompt intervention significantly reduced mean systolic blood pressure from 141.5 mm Hg to 133.0 mm Hg (P=.002) in primary care patients with hypertension.
Why the study?
Does a simple visual aid intervention delivered by medical assistants improve blood pressure control in primary care patients with hypertension?
Observational (n=56)
No
Does a simple visual aid intervention delivered by medical assistants improve blood pressure control in primary care patients with hypertension?
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
A simple, low-resource visual aid intervention delivered by medical assistants significantly improved systolic and diastolic blood pressure in primary care patients.
BACKGROUND: Blood pressure control remains a challenge despite the availability of effective antihypertensive agents. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study explored the feasibility of a simple, low-resource intervention to improve blood pressure control. METHODS: A convenience sample was drawn of 56 patients with hypertension from a primary care clinic. A preintervention-postintervention delivered by medical assistants involved prompts to providers to address blood pressure control with a visual aid indicating patients' current and target blood pressure in the context of a traffic light. RESULTS: Patients showed a significant reduction in mean systolic blood pressure (preintervention, 141.5 mm Hg, vs postintervention, 133.0 mm Hg; P = .002) and mean diastolic blood pressure (preintervention, 83.4 mm Hg, vs postintervention, 80.4 mm Hg; P = .049). CONCLUSION: In this pilot study, we established the feasibility of a brief, simple intervention to improve blood pressure control implemented by existing primary care practice clinical support staff, and preliminary data show that it can be effective in improving blood pressure control.
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Nguyen et al. (2015) conducted an observational in hypertension (n=56). Prompts to providers with a visual aid indicating current and target blood pressure vs. Preintervention baseline was evaluated on mean systolic blood pressure (p=.002). A simple visual aid and provider prompt intervention significantly reduced mean systolic blood pressure from 141.5 mm Hg to 133.0 mm Hg (P=.002) in primary care patients with hypertension.
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