PS-C07-9: BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORING IN THE COMMUNITY: A SURVEY WHETHER RURAL GPS ARE USING VALIDATED BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORS IN THEIR PRACTICES

Abstract

Objective: Poorly controlled hypertension is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. Chronically elevated blood pressure contributes to vascular disease, cardiac events, strokes and renal disease. Blood pressure (BP) measurement is therefore a critical part of a patients clinical assessment. BP needs to be measured accurately with validated equipment in order to avoid mismanagement of hypertensive patients. STRIDE BP is a non-profit research and educational organization providing international scientific guidance for BP measurement, methodology and technology. This study surveyed rural New Zealand General Practices (GP) investigating the equipment they used to meet these standards. Design: Local GP practices were invited to participate in our survey via e-mail. The survey established what blood pressure monitoring equipment was being used and whether they provided any monitors for home use. 10 out of 15 GP regional practices responded to the survey and their BP monitoring equipment data was collected and collated in a Microsoft Excel data sheet. Method: BP monitors provided by GP practices were compared against the STRIDE BP validated blood pressure monitoring equipment available at https://stridebp.org/bp-monitors. Results: Office Blood Pressure monitors All of the practices who responded reported that they have BP monitors for use in their offices. However only 3 practices were using blood pressure monitors validated by STRIDE.Home blood pressure monitors Only five of the ten practices who responded report providing blood pressure monitors for their patients to use at home. Of these five practices only one practice used validated BP machine. This practice provides four validated home BP devices for patients to loan for home use. The four other practices that provide devices for home use are providing equipment that has not been validated as per STRIDE BP criteria.Ambulatory blood pressure monitors Seven out of the ten practices do not provide these for their patients, and the three practices who do all provide equipment that does comply with STRIDE BP validation criteria. Conclusions: Our pilot survey on BP monitors for GP practices in rural New Zealand demonstrated minimal use of STRIDE BP validated equipment for BP measurements in hypertension management. This puts a lot of our GPs at risk of making decisions based on inaccurate information. Our primary conclusion from this pilot study is that there is a clear need for an education programme in our region to provide information to GPs on up to date BP monitoring technology.