Educating nurses in blood pressure measurement and hypertension control.

Today, self-measurement of blood pressure is seen as the optimal goal in improving the compliance of the hypertensive patient, but it can only be reached by using well trained medical staff. In this, the role of nurses is particularly vital. We administered a questionnaire to 77 nurses and 146 doctors to determine their levels of knowledge concerning blood pressure measurement techniques and pitfalls, and definition of hypertension. The general knowledge of both groups was insufficient. Whereas doctors showed greater medical knowledge, nurses were better at the techniques. Both were equally deficient in defining hypertension. We therefore set up a short course (3h) in blood pressure measurement to evaluate knowledge and provide further training. The course consisted of a pretest, a short training programme and a post-training test. Post-training test results showed an average improvement in defining hypertension from 5% to 85%. We conclude that short-term training courses in blood pressure measurement are needed for nurses and doctors, particularly young doctors. We also need more coverage in the medical press to stimulate interest in this vital topic.

Teaching home monitoring of blood pressure to adolescents.

A videotape and lecture method for teaching the self-measurement of blood pressure were compared in twenty, 13- 18-year-old adolescents. The time of instruction and evaluation were monitored in order to assess acquisition of skills and cost-effectiveness. Both methods of instruction were equal in respect to acquisition of skills. The videotape method of instruction was more cost-effective than the lecture method in populations of more than 23.9 patients per year, as long as videotape equipment was already available. If the equipment needed to be purchased, the videotape method became more cost-effective with populations of greater than 93.6 patients per year. It was concluded that health care teams should consider the videotape method as a cost-effective means of instruction when videotape equipment is available. In addition, a health care team which evaluates and follows a substantial number of patients per year for hypertension could realize considerable savings in the use of the newer media.