THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2013 (HealthDay News) -- To optimize the treatment of high blood pressure, the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advocate a team-based approach that incorporates the use of electronic health records, according to a scientific advisory published online Nov. 15 in Hypertension.
Alan S. Go, M.D., from Kaiser Permanente Northern California in San Francisco, and colleagues reviewed system-level treatment approaches and developed a hypertension treatment algorithm.
The researchers note that local, regional, and national programs are needed to improve blood pressure awareness, treatment, and control, with a demand for enhanced, evidence-based treatment systems, including standardization of protocols and algorithms. Health system-wide implementation of evidence-based treatment algorithms with scheduled performance feedback can improve hypertension control. Individuals should be further engaged in the hypertension control process, and pharmacists and other community-based providers should also play an increased role. The principles underlying development of the treatment algorithm include basing the process on the best available evidence; formatting the algorithm to be simple to update and simple to implement; including a patient version; using a format that can be easily integrated into team-based health care and implemented into electronic health records; and including a disclaimer that the algorithm should not be used to counter the best clinical judgment of the treating physician.
"Despite access to health care, effective therapies that have been available for 50 years, and various education and quality improvement efforts that have been targeted at patients and health care providers, achieving success in hypertension control is still a challenge," Go said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
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