In clinical settings, advanced practice nurses frequently use various strategies to treat and manage patients with hypertension and other cardiovascular disorders.

In clinical settings, advanced practice nurses frequently use various strategies to treat and manage patients with hypertension and other cardiovascular disorders. These strategies often include pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies, natural remedies, and/or changes in patient behavior. For hypertension patients, behavioral changes including increased exercise, healthier diet, and smoking cessation have proven to be particularly beneficial. However, it is important to recognize that treatment and management plans centered around changes in behavior often require greater patient commitment. This creates the need for patient-provider collaboration, as well as appropriate patient education. When patients are actively involved in their own care and better understand implications of their disorders, they are more likely to adhere to treatment plans.

To prepare:

•Review Part 11 of the Buttaro et al. text and the National Heart Lung Blood Institute article in this week’s Learning Resources.

•Reflect on your Practicum Experiences and observations. Select a case from these experiences that involves a patient who presented with a hypertension problem. When referring to your patient, make sure to use a pseudonym or other false form of identification. This is to ensure the privacy and protection of the patient.

•Think about the patient’s history including drug treatments and behavioral factors such as diet, exercise, smoking, etc.

•Review the National Heart Lung Blood Institute article in the Learning Resources. Reflect on health promotion strategies for the patient. Consider ways to reinforce hypertension management.

Post  1 to 2 pages on : Choose your own patient and a description of a patient who presented with a hypertension problem during your Practice as a nurse practitioner  Experience. Explain the patient’s history including drug treatments and behavioral factors. Then, suggest two health promotion strategies for the patient. Include suggestions for reinforcing hypertension management.

REFERENCE/RESOUECES

Buttaro, T. M., Trybulski, J., Polgar Bailey, P., & Sandberg-Cook, J. (2013). Primary care: A collaborative practice (4th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.

◦Part 11, “Evaluation and Management of Cardiovascular Disorders” (pp. 487–611)

Seidel, H. M., Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2011). Mosby’s guide to physical examination (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.

◦Chapter 26, “Recording Information

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. (2002). Primary prevention of hypertension: Clinical and public health advisory from the National High Blood Pressure Education Program. Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/resources/heart/pphbp.pdf

American Heart Association. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2012, fromhttp://www.heart.org/HEARTORG