Hypertension is a health hazard, especially becoming chronic when left unattended to for an extended period. Various measures exist for the treatment and management of the ailment involving best practices and recommended published guidelines. They conceptualize clinical pathways for mitigating the health risk posited by the illness therein conceptualizing essentiality of basing case management on current practice.
Hypertension is a chronic disease that adversely affects individuals suffering from the ailment with its prevalence in the U.S., making it a concerning case. The other name for hypertension is high blood pressure as it involves a long-term unhealthy medical condition whereby there is a constant elevation of blood pressure in the arteries. Hypertension is “a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including stroke, heart attack, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, peripheral arterial disease, vision loss, chronic kidney disease, dementia, and aneurysm” (Nerenberg et al., 2018). Such health risks occur in the long term prevalence of the disease, unlike the short term, which does not cause any alarming symptom. The situation causes many individuals to lack awareness of suffering from the condition. It is a primary concern in the United States owing to the high number of people with hypertension knowingly and unknowingly with primary cases exceeding the secondary ones. As a concerning ailment, the disease has various recommendations for treatment and management to reduce health risk.
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Patients suffering from high blood pressure have various means to manage the medical condition. As mentioned earlier, hypertension bears the risk of multiple ailments with extreme cases leading to deaths. It necessitates adopting changes to ensure that blood pressure remains under control therein, facilitating the reduction of health risk accompanied by preservation from the adverse conditions. Patients suffering from hypertension have ways of management to lead healthy lives. Some recommendations to manage the ailment include regular physical exercise whereby the recent guidelines recommend approximately more than two hours of moderate-intensity activities (like aerobics) or more than an hour of high-intensity similar efforts per week (Nerenberg et al., 2018). Some encouraged practices include jogging, swimming, or cycling, among others. Another recommended method for managing hypertension involves stress reduction whereby the recommendations advise for the avoidance of stressful situations or control the effect (Nerenberg et al., 2018). Some practices to assist in achieving the fete include yoga practices, meditation, or taking long walks in a bid to achieve relaxation. Such management measures would reduce the adversity of hypertension.
Apart from the management measures for treating hypertension, medication is another recommendable avenue. “The American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) guidelines for the detection, prevention, management, and treatment of high blood pressure recommend adoption of lifestyle changes during earlier stages while for the rest the use of medication at 130/80 mm Hg instead of 140/90 (Nerenberg et al., 2018). The recommendations bear categories for treatment: normal, elevated, Stage 1, Stage 2, and Hypersensitive crisis (Nerenberg et al., 2018). The authors further posit that the proposals include less than 120/80 mm Hg, systolic between 120-129 and diastolic less than 80, systolic between 130-139 or diastolic between 80-89, and systolic at least 140 or diastolic at least 90 mm Hg, respectively. For the final category, the guidelines recommend systolic over 180 or diastolic over 120 accompanied by prompt changes in medication when there is a lack of problem indications or immediate hospitalization for organ damage signs (Nerenberg et al., 2018). The published guidelines for treating the chronic disease seek to mitigate the adversity therein improve the health of patients suffering from the condition.
The health authorities further recommend various practices to reduce the intensity of the ailment. Firstly, the recommendations prohibit excessive use of drugs such as tobacco or alcohol, especially as stress relievers citing it elevates blood pressure. Furthermore, AHA recommends a maximum of two or one alcoholic drink for men and women, respectively, with an avenue for health providers to wholeheartedly recommend no intake in cases where moderation is difficult (Nerenberg et al., 2018). Other recommended practices include checking on diet whereby the recommendation involves consuming a heart-healthy diet (Nerenberg et al., 2018). It advocates reducing salt intake with the World Health Organization (WHO), which supports reducing intake to under 5 g a day (Nerenberg et al., 2018). Another practice for managing hypertension involves eating more fruits accompanied by vegetables and the reduction of fat consumption (Nerenberg et al., 2018). Some ideal meals fit for use include fish, low-fat dairy products, beans, and nuts, among others. The current practices equally communicate the management of body weight, which involves managing calorie intake. The mentioned recommended practices seek to address the illness, reducing the high risks posed.
The enrollment of the recommendations or management initiatives accompanied by best practices requires proper care management for success. Care managers have a prominent role in the treatment and management of the ailment as they “ensure that patients receive the quality of care, maintain compliance, maximize reimbursement, and minimize financial risk to the patient and the hospital” (Meyer, 2012). The enrollment of the recommendations and best practices requires care coordination, a fundamental premise for case management. For the success of the initiatives, the drop of disease case management involving fragmented care is necessary therein initiating disease management for the entire medical care continuum. To achieve the mentioned fete, an open and honest conversation with patients suffering from hypertension would increase the efficiency of case management. Apart from the measures, case managers require a multidisciplinary approach involving physician cooperation during a care process. For hypertension treatment management and treatment, it may require input from a nurse, a doctor, a dietician, and a health coach.
The evidence-base practices amplifying case management for the ailment magnifies the essentialness of clinical pathways. From the means to manage the illness, it requires a multi-dimensional approach owing to vast best practices accompanied by the published guidelines for treating and managing hypertension. The recent guidelines and recommendations help mitigate the health risks associated with chronic illness. As mentioned earlier, the success of the mentioned measures requires sufficient proper coordination of physicians which is the guiding requirement for case management patient care guidelines incorporating evidence-based practice. The measures conceptualize clinical pathways whose aim involves the promotion of coordinated and efficient patient care with evidence-based medicine as the guide. Further, it contextualizes the referral of several clinical guidelines with the case of hypertension involving subjects like lifestyle, properly constructed to reduce the health risk. Clinical pathways, therefore, assist in addressing the significance of basing case management on current practice for the management and treatment of hypertension.
Indeed, hypertension is a dreadful disease whose proper care mitigates the adverse effects therein preventing unfortunate outcomes with the extreme case involving death. At the early stages, it lacks symptoms therein may facilitate unawareness over time, facilitating its lack of treatability. As a chronic disease, it is manageable through adequate care which contextualizes the mentioned measures to mitigate its adversity. The long-term medical condition demands proper care dictating “promoting a good death for extreme cases” (Pizzi, 2014). However, it is treatability and manageability calls for the adoption of the recommended published guidelines enacted by the relevant health authorities for addressing the illness. The measures are sufficient and facilitate the development of clinical pathways which assist offering essentialness to basing case management on current practice for addressing hypertension.
Hypertension is manageable by recommended published guidelines for addressing the illness accompanied by current best practices. It conceptualizes clinical pathways which invoke coordination to increase the efficiency of managing the ailment, which helps address the importance of basing case management on current practice. Despite the direness of hypertension, it is manageable with efficient care.
References
Meyer, S. (2012). Care management role in end-of-life discussions. Care Management Journals , 13 (4), 180-183.
Nerenberg, K. A., Zarnke, K. B., Leung, A. A., Dasgupta, K., Butalia, S., McBrien, K., ... & Lamarre-Cliche, M. (2018). Hypertension Canada’s 2018 guidelines for diagnosis, risk assessment, prevention, and treatment of hypertension in adults and children. Canadian Journal of Cardiology , 34 (5), 506-525.
Pizzi, M. A. (2014). Promoting health, wellness, and quality of life at the end of life: hospice interdisciplinary perspectives on creating a good death. Journal of allied health , 43 (4), 212-220B.