After implementing a self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring program in your practice, what do you do with the BP information your patients report? Here is how to use the data from your patient’s self-measured BPs to make better decisions about diagnosing and treating hypertension.
Review BP measurements
Choose how you want your patients to communicate their BP measurements to your office. One option is to have your patients complete a seven-day recording log to return to your office. Another requires patients to call the office with their readings for the physician and health care team to review. Additional options include using a secure electronic health record patient portal, or using a secure email or a telehealth site to safely transmit the SMBP data when available.
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Review your patient’s SMBP measurements beginning with the average value of all the systolic and diastolic blood pressures. This will help determine whether your patient has hypertension or, if they are already diagnosed, if their BP is controlled. You can easily calculate this with the average calculator available through Target: BP™, a national initiative co-led by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the AMA. This Target: BP educational video helps train care teams and patients on how to properly self-measure blood pressure (also available in Spanish).
Through personalized support and advice based on an individual self-measured BP data, research has shown that using self-measured BP monitoring can improve BP control in patients with hypertension.
Office blood-pressure measurements are often higher than those taken where a person lives and spends most of their time, which is one of the reasons the new hypertension guideline from a joint task force formed by the American College of Cardiology and the AHA stresses the need for patients to take their own readings outside of the clinical setting.
Interpret results, manage patients
After reviewing the patient’s SMBP data, physicians should interpret the results and develop a treatment plan based on the results. For example, a patient who was assessed for a suspected diagnosis of hypertension and has an SMBP average of greater than or equal to 130/80 mm Hg (using the new ACC/AHA hypertension guideline recommendations) meets the criteria for having a new diagnosis of hypertension.
And if a patient with an office BP in the elevated range has an SMBP average of less than 120/80 mm Hg, they should be considered to have normal blood pressure in most situations.
If a patient’s BP continues to remain elevated above goal, the patient and physician will need to create a plan together. Inclusion of the patient in the treatment plan can help increase the likelihood of successfully controlling uncontrolled hypertension. This plan might include medication adjustments or counseling with a nutritionist or dietitian.
A patient might also be required to continue SMBP monitoring for another seven or 14 days to determine how the treatment plan is working to improve their BP. After which time the physician will make further adjustments as needed.
In addition to direct access to trained field support specialists and a suite of evidenced-based tools and resources offered by the AMA and the AHA, Target: BP offers annual, recurring recognition for all participating sites that achieve hypertension control rates of 70 percent or higher among their adult patient population annually. Learn about the 300-plus organizations recognized by Target: BP.
