Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Terese Verklan

Abstract

AbstractHypertension is a chronic disease that is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. This Doctor of Nursing Practice project was a quality improvement initiative that addressed the gap in practice that the nurse practitioners (NPs) were not consistently following the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) recommended guidelines for the treatment of hypertension. The purpose of the project was to evaluate whether the NPs were consistently using the guidelines to treat patients with hypertension after an educational intervention. The project used a before-after approach to evaluate the consistency of using the guidelines in treatment of hypertension. The “Plan Do Act Study” (PDSA) model was used as the framework for the project. Evidence was obtained from the databases CINAHL, CINAHL plus, EBSCOhost, Medline, Google Scholar, and PubMed. Three months of retrospective and prospective data were analyzed. All the data reviewed had the diagnosis code of I1.0. The data reviewed 3 months prior to NPs’ education revealed high blood pressure (BP) readings and poor documentation of patient education by NPs, while the prospective data reviewed revealed lower BP readings and increased documentation of patient education. Thus, the findings showed an improvement in hypertension management with the use of the ACC/AHA guidelines by the NPs. Consistent use of the ACC/AHA guidelines by the NPs is recommended, which will increase patient knowledge and compliance. The project contributed to positive social change by adopting the ACC/AHA guidelines to reduce morbidity and mortality in cardiovascular disease in the patients seen in the clinic.

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