Over the last years, hypertension has become a major cause of premature death and other health disabilities globally. Hypertension is a major health issue associated with multiple health risks such as chronic kidney disease, heart failure, and stroke. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), hypertension has become a major contributing factor for the cause of many deaths in the United States. According to the data provided, approximately 44% of the adults in the US experience hypertension.
Hypertension mostly affects adult males compared to the prevalence in the female population. Therefore, hypertension is evaluated as the problem for assessment due to the increasing number of adults experiencing hypertension. The patient selected for this assessment is Mr. K.M, a 58-year-old male experiencing hypertension for the last two years. The nurse practitioner provided the patient with key guidelines on how he should practice the medication process. However, the nurse failed to provide the lifestyle modifications the patient should consider to help him overcome hypertension. The patient questioned the medication schedule but still participated in smoking activities. Therefore, this paper evaluates multiple peer-reviewed articles related to hypertension, nursing practice standards that could adversely impact the patient’s life, and the appropriate leadership model that can help enhance the patient’s outcome. Moreover, the paper provides a practicum focus sheet that involves nurse interaction with the patient to assess the problem.
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Analyzing Evidence from Peer-Reviewed Articles
Nurses and other healthcare professionals should always ensure that the information used for research meets a particular criterion to facilitate the source’s credibility. The researcher should meet a certain criterion, including the relevance of the topic. The researcher in this article emphasized specific articles that discussed hypertension in depth. Comprehensively, the current articles (for the last five years) were used to ensure the effectiveness of nursing standards.
From the article “The Effect of Lifestyle Changes on Blood Pressure Control among Hypertensive Patients,” the author discussed how lifestyle modification was a major strategy to control and treat hypertension. The article provided a study assessing individuals diagnosed with the disease. From the study, approximately 1139 adults agreed with lifestyle modifications to manage their hypertension. Yan et al. (2017) assessed the participants according to their focus on physical exercises and nutrition considerations. Moreover, the researcher emphasized lifestyle modifications to help in blood pressure control. After the study, approximately 85% of the participants could control their hypertension level through lifestyle modifications. Various reasons can make data unreliable in this article. For instance, biases can be a key factor in demonstrating data reliability. Biases can emerge from different sources including human bias. However, the researcher can audit for biases and seek for outside help to evaluate the data.
In another research, Magobe et al. (2017) discuss the various steps to consider when treating hypertension among adults. The author mentions physical exercises and lifestyle modification as the major steps to control the disease. According to the research in this article, adult patients experiencing hypertension should participate in approximately 25 minutes of physical activity five days a week. The study in this article focused on adult patients, at least 40 years old and at most 79 years old. The study helped the patients minimize the risk of other health issues such as cardiovascular diseases regarding lifestyle modifications.
In another research conducted by Himmelfarb et al. (2016), the role of nurses and other healthcare providers has developed from the normal routine of monitoring blood pressure among hypertensive adults. Over the last few years, the role of nurses has developed into providing patient education regarding hypertension. Their role in controlling hypertension has developed to entail all healthcare aspects. The nurses’ role in controlling hypertension involves various processes such as detection, diagnosis, and treatment management. Other practices to improve health care for hypertensive adults include care coordination plan, evaluating their performances, and providing patient education. Additionally, Dennison-Himmelfarb et al. (2016) discuss the role of nurses in leading a community-based study to facilitate the hypertension quality gap as well as health disparities by evaluating various social determinants of health associated with hypertension.
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The role of nurses in controlling hypertension is vital to the effective treatment of the disease. Comprehensively, nurses should offer appropriate resources required to enhance and support the treatment plan. Therefore, nurses and other healthcare providers should provide education throughout the care process. It helps patients acquire vital tools needed to facilitate healthy lifestyles. Moreover, the nurses must educate patients on the best nutrition and how often they participate in exercise activities. Additionally, patients should also be educated on the best medication programs essential in managing and controlling hypertension.
In another article written by Gebrezgi et al. (2017), the author discussed several challenges patients face when controlling their hypertension. Comprehensively, the author highlighted some of the challenges, including; failure to meet medication programs and challenges when participating in physical exercises. Moreover, Gebrezgi et al. (2017) discussed how stigma, lack of education, and lack of awareness primarily affected hypertensive patients within the community. Furthermore, the barriers encountered when controlling hypertension have become a recurring health issue. Non-compliance to medication programs is associated with the lack of adequate education offered to the patients. Most nurses fail to train patients on lifestyle modifications, causing uncontrolled hypertension.
Nurses and other healthcare providers can reduce hospital readmissions through different strategies. One of the best ways is to identify high-risk patients most likely to be re-admitted. For instance, different factors such as race an income are a highly associated with rehospitalization. Other strategies to reduce hospital re-admissions include ensuring adequate nursing coverage and enhancing transitional care.
Nursing Practice Standards
Different states have a specific team responsible for creating appropriate guidelines and standards for nurses and other healthcare providers. Comprehensively, the states have different Nurse Practice Acts, helping ensure that all nurses meet the qualification requirements and are competent to execute their roles to high-level standards. Nurses need to understand their state’s nursing practice acts since they present the scope of practice among the nurses (Russell, 2017). For instance, Texas facilitates and supports the safe harbor policy, which protects nurses’ rights if obligated to perform a duty not related to their scope of practice. Additionally, the board of Texas plays a significant role in facilitating all policies set for the nurses. Therefore, through this policy, nurses can provide high-level standards of care that protect both the nurse and patient.
Leadership Strategies to Enhance Patient Outcomes
Healthcare systems can initiate multiple care models to help patients manage hypertension. For instance, the implementation of a patient-centered care model can help nurses meet all patient requirements. A multidisciplinary team can be a better strategy to enhance patient outcomes in a healthcare facility. A multidisciplinary model supports nurses from different departments and facilitates sharing responsibilities when providing care services (Potthoff & Vonend, 2017). Extensively, through this approach, all stakeholders involved can support each other to ensure patients successfully manage their hypertension condition. Additionally, a team-based approach will help hypertensive patients control their blood pressure. Moreover, the approach enables nurses and other healthcare professionals to improve their communication skills and help patients manage their hypertension. Furthermore, a multidisciplinary approach focuses on implementing patient-centered care and enabling patients to practice autonomy.
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Part 2
Practicum Focus Sheet
During the assessment, Mr. K.M has experienced several barriers when managing blood pressure. During an assessment with the patient, I noted that his blood pressure had increased at a higher level while Mr. K.M experience signs of weight gain. Therefore, as a nurse I was concerned the patient did not adhere to lifestyle modifications. Mr. K.M revealed that he only focused on the medication schedule and ignored the idea of modifying his lifestyle. Therefore, I noted the need to educate the patient on managing his hypertension condition and the type of lifestyle he was supposed to modify.
Additionally, I was able to discuss the control and management hypertension care. In my report, I discussed the need to educate nurses on how to manage hypertension effectively. Sometimes patients can feel the burden to deal with hypertension when new symptoms emerge. Therefore, it is a responsibility for nurses and other healthcare providers to provide patients with appropriate education and help them manage hypertension. Additionally, I believe education entails all care levels, and it is a continuous process.
There are multiple approaches patients can apply to manage their hypertension effectively. For instance, the middle-range model can help Mr. K.M manage the disease. This approach enables nurses to apply effective communication methods as they interact with patients. Therefore, I will ensure Mr. K.M accepts lifestyle modifications since it will allow him to follow the treatment plan.
In conclusion, the paper has evaluated multiple peer-reviewed articles related to hypertension, nursing practice standards that could adversely impact the patient’s life, and the appropriate leadership model that can help enhance the patient’s outcome. Moreover, the paper has included a practicum focus sheet that involves nurses’ interaction with the patient to assess the problem. A multidisciplinary team can be a better strategy to enhance patient outcomes in a healthcare facility as it supports nurses from different departments and facilitates sharing of responsibilities when providing care services.
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References
Gebrezgi, M. T., Trepka, M. J., & Kidane, E. A. (2017). Barriers to and facilitators of hypertension management in Asmara, Eritrea: patients’ perspectives. Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition, 36(1), 1-7.
Himmelfarb, C. R. D., Commodore-Mensah, Y., & Hill, M. N. (2016). Expanding the role of nurses to improve hypertension care and control globally. Annals of Global Health, 82(2), 243-253.
Magobe, N. B., Poggenpoel, M., & Myburgh, C. (2017). Experiences of patients with hypertension at primary health care in facilitating own lifestyle change of regular physical exercise. Curationis, 40(1), 1-8.
Potthoff, S. A., & Vonend, O. (2017). Multidisciplinary approach in the treatment of resistant hypertension. Current hypertension reports, 19(1), 9.
Russell, K. A. (2017). Nurse practice acts guide and govern: Update 2017. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 8(3), 18-25.
Yang, M. H., Kang, S. Y., Lee, J. A., Kim, Y. S., Sung, E. J., Lee, K. Y., … & Lee, S. Y. (2017). The effect of lifestyle changes on blood pressure control among hypertensive patients. Korean Journal of family medicine, 38(4), 173.