What is the issue for NSW?
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability in Australia which has a major impact on people’s lives and the local economy. Blood pressure is the most important risk factor to manage to reduce a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke.
Regular monitoring of blood pressure and reporting those measurements to healthcare providers is essential to guide treatment. A high level of knowledge and skill is required for patients to undertake this activity. Yet, there is a lack of accessible educational tools to provide patients with evidence-based information to achieve this in practice.
For this research program, content for a ‘Blood Pressure Toolkit’ has been co-designed with consumers and healthcare providers. This toolkit will be adapted and delivered by community Pharmacists because they are well placed to provide education and advice to empower patients to improve their blood pressure management.
What does the research aim to do and how?
This research aims to deliver accessible, evidence-based information in the form of a toolkit to improve blood pressure management.
This research program will work with Pharmacists to adapt the toolkit so they can use it within their usual workflow. Then, analysis will be done to determine if patients who use the Blood Pressure Toolkit have improved blood pressure management compared to patients who have not used the toolkit.
The research program will also look at how delivery of the toolkit fits within patient experiences, Pharmacist workload and GP management using observations and interviews.