Evaluation of Hypertension Patient Management During Family Medicine Trainee Education

Abstract

Objective: Hypertension (HT) is a systemic disease manifested by high blood pressure and is a major health problem, common in the community and the cause of serious complications. Control of blood pressure levels is an essential step in reducing omit complications. The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of face-to-face HT training on the HT knowledge and awareness of the family medicine resident doctors and to understand their needs. Materials and Methods: Our study was planned in a descriptive-cross-sectional research design. Just before and after the face-to-face training, participants were given a questionnaire developed by researchers based on two documents: the Turkish Hypertension Consensus Reports published in 2019, and the Hypertension Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines published by the Turkish Endocrinology and Metabolism Society in 2022. Results: In our study, we observed the effect of face-to-face education on 15 sub-categories of HT as an intervention research model. In the post-training evaluation, 12 of the 15 sub-categories involved theoretical questions, and three were case-based evaluation questions. The goal was to answer 50% or more of the questions correctly, and it was observed that, after the training, in five of the fifteen sub-categories, this target was generally achieved. Conclusion: Face-to-face training is effective in increasing knowledge and awareness, and evaluation capacity, which are two important elements of HT administration in primary care. A detailed examination of 15 sub-categories related to HT revealed the categories that were better in terms of effect size. Our study also detailed the effects on sub-categories related to HT management (such as resistance to first-stage HT management), which reveal interesting and somewhat unexpected results.