Identifying Patient Education Needs in Hypertension Management

Abstract

Purpose: Hypertension is one of the most commonly treated chronic diseases by primary care providers, with approximately half of those patients being uncontrolled. The purpose of this DNP quality improvement project is to implement the Hill-Bone Compliance Scale in a rural primary care practice to determine patients’ individual learning pertaining to managing their hypertension. Methodology: One MD, 1 RN, and front office staff were educated on the Hill-Bone Compliance Scale and the process for practice implementation. Patients with the diagnosis of hypertension were given a copy of the scale to complete prior to their appointment with the provider. Results: The Hill-Bone Compliance Scale measures 3 domains of hypertension management: sodium intake, medication adherence, and appointment adherence. At the conclusion of the project, 76.9% identified low sodium intake as an area of non-adherence, 65.4% identified medications as an area of non-adherence, and 15.4% identified appointment keeping as an area of non-adherence. Implications: Findings suggest that both low sodium diet and medication adherence as the greatest areas of concern. Further data is needed to examine what factors are contributing to patients’ non-adherence in these areas. The Hill-Bone Compliance Scale offers a starting point in identifying areas of need.