AHA High Blood Pressure Toolkit-Pharmacists

15 TAKING CONTROL In addition to a team-based approach to managing hypertension, other strategies focus on promoting lifestyle modifications and improving adherence to antihypertensive medication. Promoting lifestyle modifications Small changes can make a big difference. Patients adopting and maintaining lifestyle modifications can improve their blood pressure. Encourage the use of strategies that can help promote necessary behavioral changes such as the following: • Set goals. • Provide feedback. • Emphasize importance of self-monitoring. • Promote self-sufficiency. • Schedule consistent follow-up. • Use motivation interventions. These strategies are most effective when combined. Improving adherence to antihypertensive medication Research has shown that as many as 25% of patients do not fill their initial prescription for antihypertensive therapy. Use strategies that have been found to be effective in improving adherence, such as the following: • Educate patients about hypertension, its consequences and potential side effects of medication. • Collaborate with patients to establish goals of therapy and plan of care. • Prescribe medication as once-daily dosing • Integrate pill-taking into routine activities of daily living with support tools such as reminders, pillboxes, packaging and other aids. • Use fixed-dose combination agents when available. • Use medication adherence scales to facilitate identification of barriers. • Recognize patients for achieving treatment goals. Dispensing Advice Consider the cultural and social contexts and health literacy of your clients. Create an encouraging, blame-free environment. Talk openly about expectations and goals. Listen to their concerns. Answer their questions. Only 1 in 5 patients has sufficiently high adherence to achieve the benefits observed in clinical trials.