[Hypertensive crisis and nursing counseling]

A hypertensive crisis is a serious complication that can happen to all patients with a history of hypertension. Unfortunately, it is a process that has not been much studied in the area of primary care. This study, using a sample of 700 hypertensive patients over a six year period, has the objective of trying to establish the incidence of crisis annually, the period of the most frequent attacks, and the effects the nursing consultations had upon these parameters. Nursing interventions included preventative methods such as trying to reduce the time between episodes by reinforcing good health habits through educational methods.