The prevalence of hypertension in multiple sclerosis based on 37 million electronic health records from the United States.

Reply to the following discussion by challenging the post. You will want to focus on their point of view, asking pertinent questions, adding to the responses by including information from other sources, and respectfully challenging a point of view, supported by references to other sources. Be objective, clear, and concise. Always use constructive language.  

It is important to support what you say with relevant citations in the APA format from both the course materials and outside resources. 

YS Discussion:

 

Week 7 Discussion

PICOT Question

For the adults who suffer from hypertension in the United States (P), will the change of lifestyle (engaging in regular physical exercises and eating healthier and balanced meals) (I), compared to patients who use medication to treat their hypertension(C), help regulate their blood pressure more effectively (O), in a period 12 months (T)?

The Problem

Hypertension has been one of the main health issues of concern in the United States and across the world. It is imperative to note that as of April 2020, almost half of adults in the United States were suffering from hypertension. According to Ostchega et al. (2020), 47%, which is equivalent to 116 million, of all the adults in the United States has hypertension. Another notable point is that only 1 in every 4 people suffering from hypertension had their conditions under control. Hypertension is one of the leading causes of death. In the year 2019, more 500,000 deaths, which occurred in the United States, were associated with hypertension (Briggs et al., 2021). In some cases, hypertension was the primary cause while in others; it was the secondary cause of death. When it comes to costs associated with the condition, Ostchega et al. (2020) noted that between the year 2003 and 2014, the average amount of money used to address the problem was $131 billion every year. This indicates that large sums of funds are used to ensure that people who are suffering from hypertension are treated.

From the research that has been conducted in the past, one of the main causes of hypertension is the changing lifestyle, which is associated with taking unhealthy food and lack of physical exercises. According to Mahmood et al. (2019), most of the people change their lifestyles due to the nature of their work. For example, one may be required to board a bus to his or her place of work. In some cases, he or she will leave too late and exhausted. This will make him or her desire to rest early when he or she gets home. In most cases, advancements made in technology has also ensured that people buy canned, processed, fast, and fried foods which are readily available and accessible (Mahmood et al., 2019). This has played a critical role in leading to increased cases of hypertension among the populations. In some cases, as indicated by Ostchega et al. (2020), there is inherited hypertension. However, it is important to note that hypertension can be managed and controlled through taking healthy diets and conducting different physical exercises (Mahmood et al., 2019).

In this case, DASH diet and conducting physical exercises will play a critical role in ensuring that patients who suffer from hypertension are able to achieve positive health outcomes (Mahmood et al., 2019). Patients will be required to ensure that they eat healthy foods and carry out different physical exercises, which will be provided by the medical practitioners.

Stakeholders

There will be different stakeholders who will take part in the implementation of the EBP plan. First, the medical practitioners will be involved in the plan. Health care organizations usually have different medical practitioners who play different roles in ensuring that the goals and objectives of their organizations are achieved (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). In this case, the plan will require a collective effort for it to be successful. The medical practitioners will be screening patients to find out their blood pressure. After the screening process, the medical practitioners will be duty bound to ensure that they educate the patients about some of the foods, which they should avoid, and the foods that will ensure that they effectively and successfully manage and control their blood pressure. The hypertension patients will also be stakeholders in this plan (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). They will be the ones to be treated through different non-pharmacological strategies. Thirdly, the IT team will also play a role in the implementation of the plan. They will help the medical practitioners and the patients in tracking the progress of the plan. For example, the patients will be progressively screened to find out whether there are any improvements in their blood pressure. Again, they will also ensure that the patients are assisted with any information, which they will require during the implementation of the plan (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018).

Barriers

One of the main barriers is the stakeholders failing to cooperate. For the plan to be successful, all the stakeholders, including the employees in the health care organization should ensure that they effectively play their role (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). The second barrier is lack of resources. For example, the organization will be required to ensure that there is a room in which the patients can carry out their physical exercises being guided and directed by the medical practitioners and gym trainers. Failing to have sufficient resources will make it hard for the goals and objectives of the plan to be achieved (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). Another barrier is failing to educate the patients effectively about the DASH diet. It is imperative to note that the patients of hypertension will rely on the information, which will be offered by the medical practitioners during the implementation of the plan (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018).

Effective Strategies to Disseminate Information about the Practice Change to Those Implementing It

To disseminate information about the practice change, the implementation team will begin by educating the medical practitioners who will be offering different services to the patients. As noted by Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt (2018), the medical practitioners will be playing a critical role of ensuring that patients are educated and informed about the non-pharmacological management of hypertension. After being educated, the medical practitioners will be allowed to share ideas, views and opinions regarding the plan. Some of them can be having helpful ideas, which can be added on the plan. Again, during the training sessions, health professionals who will take part in the implementation of the plan will be allowed to ask questions seeking clarification of issues about the change that they do not understand (Gray et al., 2016). Answering their questions will play a critical role in ensuring that they are more informed about the change. It is also imperative to note that another strategy that will be used is ensuring that all medical practitioners have booklets, which will guide them during that implementation process. These booklets will have all the information about the change and how it should be carried out. When it comes to the patient, there will be also sessions of education whereby they will be educated about the change that will be taking place. They will be informed about the non-pharmacological management of hypertension and why it will be important for them. Again, the implementation team will also set aside a few medical practitioners who will be responding to questions or concerns, which will be raised by the patients during the implementation (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018).

Evaluation

Evaluation of the change will be taking place after every two weeks. For example, if a patient has been put on diet, he or she can lose weight and his or her blood pressure improves. To evaluate his or her progress, the weight of the patient will be measured and his or her blood pressure will be tested (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). Again, the implementation team will also evaluate the progress of the change by finding out whether the goals and objectives of the change are achieved. For example, if one of the goals is ensuring that at least half of the patients have normal blood pressure after the first two months, the team will find out whether this goal will achieved after the first two months (Gray et al., 2016).

References

Briggs, F. B. S., Hill, E., & Abboud, H. (2021). The prevalence of hypertension in multiple sclerosis based on 37 million electronic health records from the United States. European Journal of Neurology, 28(2), 558-566.

Gray, J., Grove, S., & Sutherland, S. (2016). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (8th ed.). Elsevier. ISBN: 9780323377584.

Mahmood, S., Shah, K. U., Khan, T. M., Nawaz, S., Rashid, H., Baqar, S. W. A., & Kamran, S. (2019). Non-pharmacological management of hypertension: in the light of current research. Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971-), 188(2), 437-452.

Melnyk, B. & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2018). Evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare (4th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins-LWW. ISBN: 9781496384539.

Ostchega, Y., Fryar, C. D., Nwankwo, T., & Nguyen, D. T. (2020). Hypertension prevalence among adults aged 18 and over: United States, 2017–2018.