Job. Olubodun, PHYSICIANS APPROACH TO THE MANAGEMENT OF HYPERTENSION IN A DEVELOPINGCOMMUNITY, International journal of cardiology, 51(2), 1995, pp. 193-197
General physicians' (GP) approach to the management of hypertension wa
s assessed by a standard questionnaire. Each of the 42 physicians stud
ied see about 42 patients in a clinic day. Over half do not usually me
asure the blood pressure (BP) of all new patients. A third do not inve
stigate before starting therapy. Over half commence drug therapy with
less than three BP readings, while over two thirds do so from appropri
ate BP levels. Over 70% employ sedatives in treatment (50% as the only
initial therapy); 45% employ parenteral drugs from a diastolic BP of
110 mmHg. Over 40% do not educate their patients on the implications o
f hypertension and the need for regular treatment and follow-up, but m
ost give follow-up appointments. Patients are requested to stop therap
y once BP is normalised by 25.9% of GPs. These practices were not sign
ificantly influenced by years of experience or by being a GP in a teac
hing hospital system (P > 0.1 and P > 0.5, respectively). The study su
ggests that physician recognition and management of hypertension is st
ill inadequate and this might in part be related to a general heavy pa
tient load. In addition, continued medical education is essential for
physicians for the purpose of improving our management skills.