Introduction
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is currently one of the topical health concerns in the US and other countries across the globe. This is largely due to the consequences and adverse health outcomes associated with it, such as stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. Some common causes of hypertension include excess weight, diets lacking fruit and vegetables, a lack of physical exercise, alcohol abuse, and smoking. This health issue is the main focus of the proposed project due to the severe effects it can have on the patients’ health and well-being. To address this issue, the project will discuss an intervention that can act as part of a comprehensive approach to treat patients with hypertensions and those under risk of developing this condition. This problem is of significant relevance to both my professional practice and patient outcomes, because it can pose a number of serious health risks. The present analysis will evaluate Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) as one of the main interventions to reduce these risks and provide patients with safe and effective treatment.
The Role of Leadership, Change Management, and Nursing Ethics
Leadership and change management play a significant role in addressing the issue of high rates of hypertension. According to Carthon et al. (2020), leadership strategies can have beneficial effects on patients suffering from hypertension. It can be challenging for many patients to follow the health recommendations and guidelines developed to reduce their blood pressure. Therefore, efficient leadership and change management strategies are essential to ensure the successful achievement of the patients’ health goals. These strategies have influenced the development of the proposed intervention by providing a set of leadership principles that health professionals should follow in order to improve patient outcomes. These principles include open communication, expressing personal interest, establishing individual accountability, and educating patients on the importance of the implemented changes. Nursing ethics have also informed the decision to develop the proposed intervention. This is largely due to the fact that ethical values of high quality care delivery involve non-maleficence, health promotion, professional accuracy, and competence in caring. Since DASH is an intervention that aims to prevent or treat hypertension and improve patients’ health, it supports many of these ethical principles.
The proposed solution suggests that DASH is an effective intervention that health professionals can implement in combination with other measures. Studies have shown that dietary changes implemented in accordance to the DASH principles had a positive effect on the health outcomes of patients suffering from hypertension (Challa et al., 2022). This is due to the fact that DASH allows designing diets that involve the consumption of “fruit and vegetables, lean meat and dairy products, and the inclusion of micronutrients in the menu” (Challa et al., 2022, par. 5). Overall, dietary choices that patients make on the bases of the DASH principles have to largely consist of unprocessed and fresh food. In addition, DASH diets require the reduction of sodium “to about 1500 mg/day” (Challa et al., 2022, par. 5). These and other changes that patients make according to their treatment plans can eventually help to “lower blood glucose levels, triglycerides, LDL-C, and insulin resistance” (Challa et al., 2022, par. 5). As a result, individuals suffering from high blood pressure can treat and prevent most of the complications that this condition can cause.
Communication with Patients
Since poor communication is a serious issue that can prevent patients from achieving their health goals, this proposed intervention will use effective and open communication and collaboration with patients to ensure progress. The main focus of the intervention is a group of patients with high blood pressure, and communication strategy will involve educating them on the importance of diet in improving outcomes associated with their problem. Collaborating with them and gathering their input will have significant benefits, because it will provide a more profound insight into the challenges patients may face during the implementation of this change. This will, in turn, provide clinicians and other health professionals with opportunities to help patients overcome those challenges and improve care associated with the problem of hypertension.
Literature and research related to the topic also present a number of strategies for effective communication and collaboration with patients. Vedanthan et al. (2019) have found that strategies that combined “tailored behavioral communication and mobile health (mHealth) for community health workers led to improved linkage to care” (par. 5). Another study by Cappelletti et al. (2020) showed that communication strategies also have to consider the types of information hypertensive patients may or may not be willing to hear. According to these findings, the proposed intervention suggests that health professionals should design communication strategies while considering these desires and creating an individual approach for each patient.
State Board Nursing Practices and Organizational Policies
State board nursing practice standards and organizational policies have also informed the decision to implement the proposed intervention. Evidence-based practice is the standard that has played the most significant role in this solution, as it implies the use of treatment strategies and approaches that rely on solid evidence. Thus, evidence-based practice for managing hypertension includes an individual plan of training and dietary changes (Smart et al., 2019). In turn, organizational policies that guided the development of the proposed intervention include patient-centered care and patient education. A piece of research that has tested the effectiveness of these standards and policies is the article on the guidelines for managing hypertension that the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) published to address this problem (Verdecchia et al., 2020). According to this article, the suggested policies can significantly improve patient outcomes in relation to reducing hypertension.
Impact on the Quality of Care, Patient Safety, and Costs Reduction
The proposed intervention will improve the quality of care that health care clinicians provide to hypertensive patients. First, DASH diets allow making necessary modifications to the patients’ eating patterns, facilitating care and mitigating symptoms in hypertensive patients with various conditions, such as lactose intolerance, uncontrolled heart failure, and diabetes (Filippou et al., 2020). The intervention has an important impact on patient safety, since it allows reducing the risks associated with many of the conditions that cause hypertension, such as obesity and diabetes (Verdecchia et al., 2020). Finally, the proposed intervention will help to reduce costs of managing hypertension, as it will prevent the development of other morbidities, such as stroke and mortality. Sources that support these conclusions include various systematic reviews and analyses of the beneficial effects of DASH diets, such as an article by Lari et al. (2021). This article presents DASH as one of the most feasible approaches to reducing hypertension.
Technology, Care Coordination, and Community Resources
Technology can act as part of the proposed intervention, as it improves and facilitates communication between health professionals and their patients. Thus, medical and health devices can be used to track the patients’ dietary patterns, introduce changes, and view doctors’ recommendations. Health professionals can also apply care coordination to address the problem using the DASH strategy (Carthon et al., 2020). As the team will practice coordinated care, it will reduce the chances of patients receiving contradictory or ambiguous dietary plans (Verdecchia et al., 2020). Community resources can also help to utilize the introduction of the proposed intervention. For example, physicians can provide their patients with educational materials published by medical organizations on the topic of healthy diets and hypertension.
Conclusion
It is clear that hypertension is a serious problem that requires a comprehensive approach and continuous medical supervision. Physicians and other health professionals working in teams have to apply a combination of measures in order to ensure that patients’ condition does not cause adverse outcomes of complications. The intervention proposed by this project focuses on the dietary aspect of this comprehensive solution. Based on the review of the existing literature, this project has concluded that DASH diets have a significant positive impact on the patient outcomes. In combination to physical exercise and the absence of unhealthy habits, this intervention can help lower high blood pressure and minimize risks associated with it, such as cardiovascular diseases, kidney disease, and diabetes. In addition, this approach allows reducing costs of managing hypertension. Some aspects that physicians need to take into account in terms of implementing this intervention include open communication, emphasis on care coordination, patient safety, and high quality care.
References
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Verdecchia, P., Reboldi, G., & Angeli, F. (2020). The 2020 international society of hypertension global hypertension practice guidelines – key messages and clinical considerations. European Journal of Internal Medicine, 82, 1-6.