Treatments of Hypertension in African Americans, Article Review Example

Hypertension is a serious health concern for African Americans, and requires a strategic course of action to ensure that patients are treated appropriately, given the circumstances of their conditions. It is important for nurses to exercise an effective approach to their practice that will ensure that this patient population manages their condition effectively. Nurses must recognize the common risk factors associated with hypertension within this group, and must demonstrate that they are capable of developing practice methods that are specific to this population. These efforts must also convey how to manage hypertension through the recognition of risk factors and patterns within this population group that will be effective on a consistent basis.

Hypertension is a serious chronic health concern that warrants ongoing attention, and one factor to consider in nursing practice is salt intake, which places a strain on blood pressure in different ways (Peters and Flack, 2000). Therefore, some patients who possess salt sensitivity or other related problems must be treated accordingly (Peters and Flack, 2000). Furthermore, with this group of patients, nurses must recognize important patterns that will be instrumental in treating the condition as a means of stabilizing blood pressure (Douglas et.al, 2003). Nurses are responsible for the development of outcomes measures that will enable them to improve their treatment of patients, and to recognize patterns that will be most effective in facilitating effective treatment outcomes for these patients (Douglas et.al, 2003).

One of the key factors that nurses must consider in evaluating patients is the cardiovascular risk assessment, which supports the determination of specific risk factors, as well as readings that are likely to increase these risks (Douglas et.al, 2003). Furthermore, “African Americans have a high prevalence of obesity and inactivity, both of which should be viewed as major risk factors in this population” (Douglas et.al, 2003, p. 527). As a result, nursing practice methods must consider these concerns, and determine which forms of evidence that already exist are most effective in achieving the expected results (Douglas et.al, 2003). It is important to establish a focused approach that will enable nurses to be most effective when treating this population, while also recognizing that their contributions to this area of practice should be based upon existing evidence and frameworks (Douglas et.al, 2003).

Nurses in the capacity to treat African Americans with hypertension must use existing protocols and methods to ensure that patients are treated successfully, and are provided with the best possible care, given their risk factors and limitations. Under these conditions, it is important for nurses to work tirelessly to ensure that they represent the effective transition to evidence-based practice, because these efforts are essential to achieve optimum care and delivery in this process. The Rosswurm and Larrabee Model to address evidence-based practice provides the following: “The Rosswurm and Larrabee Model facilitates a shift from traditional nursing practice based on intuition to one steeped in scientific evidence” (Sinai Hospital, 2011). With this practice model in mind, it is likely that nurses will be able to capture data from the African American hypertension population and adapt their practice methods accordingly. However, this practice requires an ongoing collaborative effort from all nurses to ensure that evidence-based practice is accepted and adopted into current practice in different ways (Sinai Hospital, 2011). These elements play a significant role in supporting the value of effective outcomes for African Americans with hypertension. When this is achieved, there is a much greater likelihood that nurses will be able to more effectively target this population and its specific needs once they have the data and evidence in place to make changes to their current practice methods as required. It is expected that these conditions will be most effective in enabling patients to be treated according to their specific condition, and that disease-centered education will be offered as an opportunity for African Americans to improve their condition. There are significant factors associated with these developments that are designed to ensure that nurses might be able to successfully treat patients with these tools at a consistent level. It is important and necessary to provide patients within this population group the knowledge and prior evidence that is necessary to support their needs, and to also expand prevention efforts and education for this group. These opportunities are essential for nursing practice, and must be taken into context when developing new methods in this area. By approaching this problem from a team-based perspective, it is possible to determine how nurses should approach these patients, and enable them to manage their condition as best as possible, given their individual limitations.

References

Douglas, J.G., Bakris, G.L., Epstein, M., Ferdinand, K.C., Ferrario, C., Flack, J.M., Jamerson, K.A., Jones, W.E., Haywood, J., Maxey, R., Ofili, E.O., Saunders, E., Schffrin, E.L., Sica, D.A., Sowers, J.R., and Vidt, D.G. (2003). Management of high blood pressure in African Americans. Archives of Internal Medicine, 163: 525-541

Peters, R.M., and Flack, J.M. (2000). Salt sensitivity and hypertension in African Americans: implications for cardiovascular nurses. Progress in Cardiovascular Nursing, 15(4): 138-144.

Sinai Hospital (2011). Conceptual basis for nursing. Retrieved from http://www.lifebridgehealth.org/Sinai/ConceptualBasisforNursing.aspx