Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Hypertension Management Program at a Large Primary Care Practice

Area of Science:

• Family Medicine
• Cardiology
• Public Health

Background:

• Hypertension control is a persistent challenge in primary care settings.
• Effective strategies are needed to improve blood pressure management in adult patients.
• Current approaches may not adequately address patient self-efficacy and health distress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate an evidence-based, multidisciplinary team approach for hypertension management.
• To assess the impact of the intervention on blood pressure control, health distress, and self-efficacy.
• To determine the feasibility of such a program in an academic family medicine practice.

Main Methods:

• A 5-year intervention involving team-based medication therapy management, patient-centered counseling, and home blood pressure monitoring.
• Pre- and post-intervention data collection on blood pressure and patient-reported outcomes.
• Statistical analysis using paired t-tests to compare outcomes.

Main Results:

• Significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (148.4 to 135.6 mmHg, P = 0.001) among study completers.
• Significant decrease in self-reported health distress over the study period.
• The multidisciplinary intervention demonstrated effectiveness in patients who adhered to the program.

Conclusions:

• A multidisciplinary team approach, including medication management and patient counseling, can effectively improve hypertension control.
• This model is associated with reduced systolic blood pressure and health distress.
• Primary care providers can implement such programs for patients with uncontrolled hypertension unresponsive to initial pharmacologic treatments.