Essay Sample on Digital Interventions in Hypertension Management

Introduction

The cases of people suffering from non-communicable diseases such as hypertension have been on the increase. In fact, it is estimated that the number of people suffering from hypertension in the entire world is more than one billion. The percentage is expected to increase as the population continues to increase and the number of elderly people continues to rise (Morrissey et al., 2018). The high number of people suffering from hypertension is associated with increased cases of mortality secondary to cardiovascular diseases as well as cerebrovascular accidents (Bradbury et al., 2017).

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Despite the high number of hypertensive cases, the condition can effectively be controlled using antihypertensive medications and close blood pressure monitoring. Actually, Morrissey et al. (2018), notes that a high adherence to hypertensive medications is associated with increased blood pressure control. However, the current problem is that most hypertensive patients do not comply with the prescribed medications. In fact, Morrissey et al. (2018), states that about 50-80 % of hypertensive patients have a low compliance to medications which explains why most of them are unable to effectively control their blood pressure.

There has been a growing concern among healthcare providers on ways of increasing medication adherence and self-care among hypertensive patients. Some of the interventions that have been found effective in increasing medication compliance include self-monitoring of blood pressure and use of reminders like environmental cues to notify the patient when they are supposed to take drugs. Research evidence indicates that these interventions have been successful in significantly increasing adherence to the prescribed regimens (Morrissey et al., 2018).

Additionally, the growth in technology is bringing up novel methods of responding to issues in contemporary society. Such technologies are being incorporated in the management of hypertension especially in improving compliance. Nowadays, healthcare providers and experts are making use of digital health interventions like smartphone applications as well as wireless blood pressure monitors to improve medications adherence among hypertensive patients. These technologies are emerging as practical methods of supporting blood pressure self-monitoring as well as acting as reminders for taking medications. These technologies will provide a new and most likely, better way of managing hypertension to reduce the health care costs and mortality cases associated with the condition (Morrissey et al., 2018).

Nevertheless, many health practitioners are questioning the effectiveness of the technologies in achieving the intended goals. For instance, a study that was conducted by Bradbury et al. (2017), noted that most of the aspects of monitoring blood pressure at home seemed to be convincing, acceptable, and practical for implementation. The clinicians who participated in the study indicated that some of the perceived benefits of the home BP would be the empowerment of patients to self-manage themselves. Moreover, they stated that successful implementation of Home BP technology would save practitioner's and patient's time as well as overcome the problem of prescribing different antihypertensive medications.

However, some practitioners expressed various concerns about patients measuring their blood pressure at home. They are those who were doubtful about the technology recording accurate readings of the patient's blood pressure. Some also felt that home monitoring of BP might increase patient's anxiety at home leading to increased consultations and thus, a waste of time for the physician and patient. Other practitioners expressed lack of confidence in initiating multiple changes on medications while using the technology as well as the unforeseen drug interactions. Moreover, nurses were also concerned about the change in the model of the patient's support to be offered under the new technology. Fortunately, a modification done based on these feedbacks was successful in overcoming the concerns and thus, improving the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention (Bradbury et al., 2017).

Digital technologies are likely to bring many benefits to the area of management of chronic diseases such as hypertension. O'Neil et al. (2016) noticed that the low quality of reporting in the area of digital technologies used to improve the cardiometabolic health of people hindered its increased uptake and implementation. According to the researchers, clinicians and patients can harness the advancement of technologies that is occurring alongside the increasing burden of chronic diseases to come up with tailor-made interventions as well as very personalized care. However, the greatest level of benefits can only be realized if the quality of reporting about the use of these digital technologies is greatly improved.

Conclusion

From the above discussions, it is evident that there is a significant increase in the number of patients suffering from hypertension. Moreover, the number of people who succumb to hypertension-related complications is also high. This demonstrates that there is a critical need to improve blood pressure control among patients suffering from hypertension. Traditionally, blood pressure control among this cohort of patients has been significantly improved by manual BP monitoring and use of environmental cues as reminders to take medications. These achievements can be improved greatly by the use of digital technologies that have become a major part of people in the society. However, these technologies should be implemented meticulously to ensure that the BP readings are accurate and to receive widespread acceptance from clinicians as well as patients.

References

Bradbury, K., Morton, K., Band, R., May, C., McManus, R., Little, P., & Yardley, L. (2017). Understanding how primary care practitioners perceive an online intervention for the management of hypertension. BMC medical informatics and decision making, 17(1), 5.

Morrissey, E. C., Casey, M., Glynn, L. G., Walsh, J. C., & Molloy, G. J. (2018). smartphone apps for improving medication adherence in hypertension: patients' perspectives. Patient preference and adherence, 12, 813.

O'Neil, A., Cocker, F., Rarau, P., Baptista, S., Cassimatis, M., & Taylor, B. (2016). Using digital interventions to improve the cardio-metabolic health of populations: a meta-review of reporting quality (Accepted). Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, a.