Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 17, 2026
Improved Home Blood Pressure Control by CT-guided Ozone-mediated Renal Denervation for Patients with Resistant Hypertension
Published on: June 6, 2025
Characteristics of Patients Disengaged From Pharmacist-Led Hypertension Management in Primary Care: An Observational
Isabel Wedig1, Anupama Joseph2,3, Tyler Ho2,4
1University of Iowa Health Care, Iowa City, Iowa, isabel-wedig@uiowa.edu.
Insights
Many patients referred to pharmacy services for hypertension management are not meeting their blood pressure goals. Lack of patient interest is the primary reason for disengagement from these vital services.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Pharmacology
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Hypertension is a major global health concern, increasing the risk of cardiovascular, renal, and neurologic diseases.
- Clinical pharmacists are crucial in managing blood pressure and helping patients achieve treatment goals.
- Patient disengagement from pharmacy services hinders effective hypertension management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate characteristics of patients referred to a primary care pharmacy antihypertensive service who did not engage.
- To explore reasons behind patient disengagement from pharmacy-based hypertension care.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective chart review of adult patients referred to UW Health's primary care pharmacy antihypertensive service during fiscal year 2023.
- Inclusion criteria focused on patients referred but not engaged in care.
- Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic information and reasons for disengagement.
Main Results:
- 66.1% of non-engaged patients were not at their blood pressure goal.
- The primary reasons for disengagement were lack of patient interest (67.9%) and management by another healthcare team member (21.4%).
Conclusions:
- A significant majority of patients referred to pharmacists for hypertension management are not achieving their blood pressure targets.
- Patient interest and existing care coordination are key factors influencing engagement with pharmacy antihypertensive services.
Introduction:
Hypertension is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although it is often asymptomatic, adequate blood pressure control can help decrease the risk of cardiovascular, renal, and neurologic diseases. Clinical pharmacists can play a critical role in blood pressure management and have been shown to help patients meet their goals. Despite this, patients often disengage from pharmacy services, and reasons for this are not well understood. This study sought to evaluate characteristics of patients who are referred but not engaged in a primary care pharmacy antihypertensive service and explore potential reasons for disengagement.
Methods:
Data from the 2023 fiscal year (July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023) were collected from UW Health's electronic health record. Inclusion criteria were prespecified to include adults referred by their primary care provider to pharmacy services but who did not engage in care. Retrospective chart reviews were performed to gather demographic information on this population, and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.
Results:
Of the 168 individuals who met the inclusion criteria, 66.1% of participants were not currently at their blood pressure goal. The majority of patients did not engage in pharmacist services due to lack of patient interest (n = 114, 67.9%) or being managed by another health care member team (n = 36, 21.4%).
Conclusions:
The majority of patients who did not engage with a pharmacist for hypertension medication management despite referral from their primary care provider are not achieving their blood pressure goal.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Hypertension III: Clinical Manifestations and Diagnostic Studies
01:25Errors occurring during blood pressure monitoring
Several factors...
01:23Hypertension V: Nursing Management
01:28Hypertension IV: Drug Therapy and Lifestyle Modifications
01:28Factors affecting Blood pressure
Physiological Factors:
00:59Model-Independent Approaches for Pharmacokinetic Data: Noncompartmental Analysis
One important characteristic of noncompartmental analyses is that drug exposure increases proportionally with increasing doses. This...