Barriers to Optimal Clinician Guideline Adherence in Management of Markedly Elevated Blood Pressure: A Qualitative...

Hypertension poses a substantial public health challenge. Despite clinical practice guidelines for hypertension management, clinician adherence to these guidelines remains suboptimal.

To develop a taxonomy of suboptimal adherence scenarios for severe hypertension and identify barriers to guideline adherence.

This qualitative content analysis using electronic health records (EHRs) of Yale New Haven Health System included participants who had at least 2 consecutive visits with markedly elevated blood pressure (BP; defined as at least 2 consecutive readings of systolic BP ≥160 mm Hg and diastolic BP ≥100 mm Hg) between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2021, and no prescription for antihypertensive medication within a 90 days of the second BP measurement. Data analysis was conducted from January to December 2023.

The primary outcome was scenarios and influencing factors contributing to clinician nonadherence to the guidelines for hypertension management. A thematic analysis of EHR data was conducted to generate a pragmatic taxonomy of scenarios of suboptimal clinician guideline adherence in the management of severe hypertension.

Of the 20 654 patients who met criteria, 200 were randomly selected and thematic saturation was reached after analyzing 100 patients (mean [SD] age at index visit, 66.5 [12.8] years; 50 female [50%]; 8 Black [8%]; 5 Hispanic or Latino [5%]; 85 White [85%]). Three content domains emerged: (1) clinician-related scenarios (defined as noninitiation or nonintensification of treatment due to issues relating to clinician intention, capability, or scope), which included 2 subcategories (did not address and diffusion of responsibility); (2) patient-related scenarios (defined as noninitiation or nonintensification of treatment due to patient behavioral considerations), which included 2 subcategories (patient nonadherence and patient preference); and (3) clinical complexity-related scenarios (defined as noninitiation or nonintensification of treatment due to clinical situational complexities), which included 3 subcategories (diagnostic uncertainty, maintenance of current intervention, and competing medical priorities).

In this qualitative study of EHR data, a taxonomy of suboptimal adherence scenarios for severe hypertension was developed and barriers to guideline adherence were identified. This pragmatic taxonomy lays the foundation for developing targeted interventions to improve clinician adherence to guidelines and patient outcomes.