Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

A quality improvement project evaluating the perioperative implementation of a hypertension management protocol by anaesthesiologists at seven government hospitals in the Western Cape. “a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project: the peri-operative implementation of a hypertension protocol by anesthesiologists”

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a common risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, with a high prevalence in patients presenting for elective surgery. In limited resource environments, patients have poor access to primary care physicians, limiting the efficacy of life-style modification fo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pfister, Claire-Louise
Other Authors: Biccard, Bruce
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine 2022
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613214376722432
access_status_str Open Access
author Pfister, Claire-Louise
author2 Biccard, Bruce
author_browse Biccard, Bruce
Pfister, Claire-Louise
author_facet Biccard, Bruce
Pfister, Claire-Louise
author_sort Pfister, Claire-Louise
collection Thesis
description BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a common risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, with a high prevalence in patients presenting for elective surgery. In limited resource environments, patients have poor access to primary care physicians, limiting the efficacy of life-style modification for the initial management of hypertension in the community. In these circumstances, the perioperative period presents a unique opportunity for diagnosis and initiation and/or modification of pharmacotherapy of hypertension. Anesthesiologists are ideally placed to lead this aspect of perioperative medicine. METHODS: In collaboration with expert physicians, we designed and implemented an algorithm for the diagnosis of hypertension and subsequent initiation or modification of anti-hypertensive therapy, or referral to a physician. The study was a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project in seven hospitals in the Western Cape, South Africa. On the day before scheduled elective surgery, adult inpatients had two sets of blood pressure (BP) readings taken, one by nurses and the other by anesthesiologists, using a noninvasive automated blood pressure device. These were averaged on an electronic database, to diagnose hypertension. Patients with normal BP or well-controlled hypertension required no further management. Those with borderline BP received educational pamphlets. Patients with stage 1 or 2 hypertension were managed with medication according to the algorithm, starting 1 day postoperatively, and provided with educational pamphlets. Patients with stage 3 disease were referred to a physician. The primary outcome was adherence by the anesthesiologist to the algorithm, defined as initiation of the prescribed medication. An 80% adherence rate was considered successful implementation. The secondary outcome was the issue of the antihypertensive medication at discharge. RESULTS: Two hundred and ninety-eight patients were screened for hypertension. One hundred and six patients were eligible for the quality improvement project. Thirty-seven (34.9%) had borderline blood pressure readings, 43 (40.6%) had stage 1-, 22 (20.8%) stage 2-, and 4 (3.8%) stage 3 hypertension respectively. The adherence rate by the anesthesiologist was 84.0% (95% confidence interval (CI) 77.0% to 91.0%) for initiation of anti-hypertensive therapy. It was noted that 55.5% (95% CI 46.2% to 65.1%) received their medication upon discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Anesthesiologists successfully implemented a quality improvement project for diagnosis and management of hypertension in the perioperative period. This has the potential to reduce the public health burden of hypertension in limited resource environments. Successful ongoing prescription and follow-up requires cooperation within a multi-disciplinary team involving anesthesiologists, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists and physicians.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/35549
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:34.479Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine
publisherStr Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/35549 A quality improvement project evaluating the perioperative implementation of a hypertension management protocol by anaesthesiologists at seven government hospitals in the Western Cape. “a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project: the peri-operative implementation of a hypertension protocol by anesthesiologists” Pfister, Claire-Louise Biccard, Bruce Dyer, Robert A Rayner, Brian Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a common risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, with a high prevalence in patients presenting for elective surgery. In limited resource environments, patients have poor access to primary care physicians, limiting the efficacy of life-style modification for the initial management of hypertension in the community. In these circumstances, the perioperative period presents a unique opportunity for diagnosis and initiation and/or modification of pharmacotherapy of hypertension. Anesthesiologists are ideally placed to lead this aspect of perioperative medicine. METHODS: In collaboration with expert physicians, we designed and implemented an algorithm for the diagnosis of hypertension and subsequent initiation or modification of anti-hypertensive therapy, or referral to a physician. The study was a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project in seven hospitals in the Western Cape, South Africa. On the day before scheduled elective surgery, adult inpatients had two sets of blood pressure (BP) readings taken, one by nurses and the other by anesthesiologists, using a noninvasive automated blood pressure device. These were averaged on an electronic database, to diagnose hypertension. Patients with normal BP or well-controlled hypertension required no further management. Those with borderline BP received educational pamphlets. Patients with stage 1 or 2 hypertension were managed with medication according to the algorithm, starting 1 day postoperatively, and provided with educational pamphlets. Patients with stage 3 disease were referred to a physician. The primary outcome was adherence by the anesthesiologist to the algorithm, defined as initiation of the prescribed medication. An 80% adherence rate was considered successful implementation. The secondary outcome was the issue of the antihypertensive medication at discharge. RESULTS: Two hundred and ninety-eight patients were screened for hypertension. One hundred and six patients were eligible for the quality improvement project. Thirty-seven (34.9%) had borderline blood pressure readings, 43 (40.6%) had stage 1-, 22 (20.8%) stage 2-, and 4 (3.8%) stage 3 hypertension respectively. The adherence rate by the anesthesiologist was 84.0% (95% confidence interval (CI) 77.0% to 91.0%) for initiation of anti-hypertensive therapy. It was noted that 55.5% (95% CI 46.2% to 65.1%) received their medication upon discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Anesthesiologists successfully implemented a quality improvement project for diagnosis and management of hypertension in the perioperative period. This has the potential to reduce the public health burden of hypertension in limited resource environments. Successful ongoing prescription and follow-up requires cooperation within a multi-disciplinary team involving anesthesiologists, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists and physicians. 2022-01-21T09:53:10Z 2022-01-21T09:53:10Z 2021 2022-01-21T08:48:25Z Master Thesis Masters MMed http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35549 eng application/pdf Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
Pfister, Claire-Louise
A quality improvement project evaluating the perioperative implementation of a hypertension management protocol by anaesthesiologists at seven government hospitals in the Western Cape. “a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project: the peri-operative implementation of a hypertension protocol by anesthesiologists”
thesis_degree_str Master's
title A quality improvement project evaluating the perioperative implementation of a hypertension management protocol by anaesthesiologists at seven government hospitals in the Western Cape. “a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project: the peri-operative implementation of a hypertension protocol by anesthesiologists”
title_full A quality improvement project evaluating the perioperative implementation of a hypertension management protocol by anaesthesiologists at seven government hospitals in the Western Cape. “a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project: the peri-operative implementation of a hypertension protocol by anesthesiologists”
title_fullStr A quality improvement project evaluating the perioperative implementation of a hypertension management protocol by anaesthesiologists at seven government hospitals in the Western Cape. “a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project: the peri-operative implementation of a hypertension protocol by anesthesiologists”
title_full_unstemmed A quality improvement project evaluating the perioperative implementation of a hypertension management protocol by anaesthesiologists at seven government hospitals in the Western Cape. “a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project: the peri-operative implementation of a hypertension protocol by anesthesiologists”
title_short A quality improvement project evaluating the perioperative implementation of a hypertension management protocol by anaesthesiologists at seven government hospitals in the Western Cape. “a multi-center, cross-sectional quality improvement project: the peri-operative implementation of a hypertension protocol by anesthesiologists”
title_sort quality improvement project evaluating the perioperative implementation of a hypertension management protocol by anaesthesiologists at seven government hospitals in the western cape a multi center cross sectional quality improvement project the peri operative implementation of a hypertension protocol by anesthesiologists
topic Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35549
work_keys_str_mv AT pfisterclairelouise aqualityimprovementprojectevaluatingtheperioperativeimplementationofahypertensionmanagementprotocolbyanaesthesiologistsatsevengovernmenthospitalsinthewesterncapeamulticentercrosssectionalqualityimprovementprojecttheperioperativeimplementationofahypertensi
AT pfisterclairelouise qualityimprovementprojectevaluatingtheperioperativeimplementationofahypertensionmanagementprotocolbyanaesthesiologistsatsevengovernmenthospitalsinthewesterncapeamulticentercrosssectionalqualityimprovementprojecttheperioperativeimplementationofahypertensio