The Potency of Team-Based Care Interventions for Hypertension

Abstract

Blood pressure (BP) is poorly controlled in the United States.^1-5 The 8th Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC-8) is currently considering strategies to improve the implementation of the guidelines and achieve higher BP control rates. Investigators from the Stanford University/University of California, San Francisco, Evidence-Based Practice Center conducted an analysis of controlled clinical trials examining quality improvement strategies and found that the only strategy that significantly improved BP involved interdisciplinary, team-based care.⁶ Most of the quality improvement interventions included multiple components. These different strategies or the potency of the intervention may explain the apparent differences in effect sizes.⁷