Improved Blood Pressure Control With a Physician-Nurse Team and Home Blood Pressure Measurement

To assess whether a physician-nurse team model could improve long-term hypertension control rates by active intervention and modification of antihypertensive drug regimens based on home blood pressure (BP) measurements. This study consisted of patients referred to a hypertension specialty clinic between July 1999 and June 2002 for the evaluation and management of uncontrolled hypertension. Patients were evaluated initially by a physician. A treatment plan was designed and implemented subsequently by a hypertension nurse specialist. Each patient was given an automated digital home BP monitor and requested to provide 42 BP readings taken during 7 days at intervals of 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after dismissal from the clinic. The mean of these weekly values was reviewed by the physician-nurse team, and the treatment regimen was adjusted to achieve a goal BP of less than 135/85 mm Hg. One hundred six consecutively referred patients were enrolled in the study (mean ± SD age, 64±14 years; 58% female; baseline BP, 156±16/85±11 mm Hg). Ninety-four patients submitted BP data after 1 month, and 78 patients completed the entire 12-month study period. Overall, mean BP decreased to 138±17/78±8 mm Hg at 1 month and to 131±9/75±7 mm Hg at 12 months (P