Assessment and nursing management of hypertension in the perioperative period

Over 50 million persons in the United States have hypertension, making it one of the most common abnormalities found in the perioperative patient. Often discovered during the preoperative assessment of the patient scheduled for surgery, hypertension raises many concerns in the perioperative period, including hemodynamic control during anesthesia, postoperative complications, and the risk of comorbidities that may not be evident until the patient is stressed. This article concentrates on the identification of hypertension preoperatively, the potential problems associated with hypertension in the entire perioperative period, and pharmacologic and nursing management.