Content Objective: Hypertension
By the end of the Family Medicine Clerkship, the medical student will be able to:
- Describe and demonstrate the appropriate technique for blood pressure assessment.
- Describe the operator and patient factors that can artificially raise and lower blood pressure.
- Define how to diagnose hypertension in a family practice setting for different patient groups, and identify the blood pressure targets for these groups.
- Describe the role of patient determined blood pressure and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure assessment in diagnosis and monitoring of HTN.
- Describe end-organ damage from hypertension and how to assess a patient for these.
- Propose an initial diagnostic workup for a patient with a new diagnosis of high blood pressure to determine if there is a secondary cause for hypertension (versus essential hypertension.)
- Define the diagnostic and treatment targets for various groups of patients with high blood pressure.
- Propose a treatment plan (incorporating non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic options) for a patient with a new diagnosis of high blood pressure.
- Recognize and act on a hypertensive crisis.
- Describe the various drug classes used to treat high blood pressure and their mechanisms of action, side effects, relative cost, and pharmacokinetics.
Mandatory Clinical Encounter
- Hypertension
Resources
- Canadian Hypertension Education Program
- Look for CHEP app
- BC Guidelines; Hypertension (please note that there are some differences between the CHEP and BC Guidelines, of note the desirable BP for patients with DM and the frequency in which to screen)
* Where a specific resource is not listed for a particular objective, please refer to recommended general texts/websites. Resources have often been selected from the Clinical Practice Guidelines and Protocols in British Columbia and Alberta’s Towards Optimized Practice Clinical Practice Guidelines. These are often concise summaries of national guidelines.