The development of a model for monitoring people with undiagnosed high blood pressure in hospital. Maha Sarakham Province

Abstract

This study was practical action research, aiming at developing a model for monitoring people with undiagnosed high blood pressure in hospital. The study was conducted between October 2022 and September 2023. The sample group was selectively chosen from physicians, nurses, staff who responsible for non-communicable diseases in Subdistrict Health Promotion Hospital, Chiang Yuen District Public Health Office, Maha Sarakham Province, and village health volunteers; total of 50 people. The development process consisted of 3 stages. Stage 1 preparation stage, which involved analyzing the situation and identifying problems. Stage 2 implementation stage, which included planning, action, observation, and reflection of results. Stage 3 summarizing and evaluating outcome stage, analyzing qualitative data using content analysis and analyzing quantitative data using descriptive statistics. Data are presented with frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The study found that a model for monitoring people with undiagnosed high blood pressure in hospital was establishing a referral system for individuals with undiagnosed high blood pressure in hospitals who were first detected at the hospital.  The hospital physicians informed outpatient department nurses to refer individuals with high blood pressure to the non-communicable disease clinic to give advice and forward the information to Subdistrict Health Promotion Hospitals and Village Health Volunteers to monitor blood pressure measurement at community health stations. Additionally, the community health stations refered individuals with high blood pressure back to hospitals for diagnosis and treatment within 7 days. This development has utilized information technology through the LINE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT application for data management. Data will be exchanged in real time among hospital staff, Subdistrict Health Promotion Hospitals, and Village Health Volunteers. Immediate alerts will be sent when high blood pressure is detected, along with advice via the Line application, to provide guidance to individuals with high blood pressure and ensure they followed up for confirmation tests at the hospital to receive diagnosis and treatment registration. After 10 months of implementing this model, it was found that the sample group expressed 100% satisfaction. According to the evaluation from the Health Data Center database of the Ministry of Public Health, there were 1,365 cases undiagnosed with high blood pressure (Excluding emergency departments) and 338 cases (24.76%) registered for treatment within 7 days.