Optimizing the implementation of a population panel management intervention in safety-net clinics for pediatric hypertension (The OpTIMISe-Pediatric Hypertension Study)

Provider Perspectives on Patient- and Provider-Facing High Blood Pressure Clinical Decision Support

BACKGROUND

Hypertension, persistent high blood pressures (HBP) leading to chronic physiologic changes, is a common condition that is a major predictor of heart attacks, strokes, and other conditions. Despite strong evidence, care teams and patients are inconsistently adherent to HBP guideline recommendations. Patient-facing clinical decision support (CDS) could help improve recommendation adherence but must also be acceptable to clinicians and patients.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to partly address the challenge of developing a patient-facing CDS application, we sought to understand provider variations and rationales related to HBP guideline recommendations and perceptions regarding patient role and use of digital tools.

METHODS

We engaged hypertension experts and primary care respondents to iteratively develop and implement a pilot survey and a final survey which presented five clinical cases that queried clinicians' attitudes related to actions; variations; prioritization; patient input; importance; and barriers for HBP diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment. Analysis of Likert's scale scores was descriptive with content analysis for free-text answers.

RESULTS

Fifteen hypertension experts and 14 providers took the pilot and final version of the surveys, respectively. The majority (>80%) of providers felt the recommendations were important, yet found them difficult to follow-up to 90% of the time. Perceptions of relative amounts of patient input and patient work for effective HBP management ranged from 22 to 100%. Stated reasons for variation included adverse effects of treatment, patient comorbidities, shared decision-making, and health care cost and access issues. Providers were generally positive toward patient use of electronic CDS applications but worried about access to health care, nuance of recommendations, and patient understanding of the tools.

CONCLUSION

At baseline, provider management of HBP is heterogeneous. Providers were accepting of patient-facing CDS but reported preferences for that CDS to capture the complexity and nuance of guideline recommendations.

Hypertension in children and adolescents

Definition and management of arterial hypertension in children and adolescents are uncertain, due to different positions of current guidelines. The European Society of Cardiology task-force, constituted by Associations and Councils with interest in arterial hypertension, has reviewed current literature and evidence, to produce a Consensus Document focused on aspects of hypertension in the age range of 6-16 years, including definition, methods of measurement of blood pressure, clinical evaluation, assessment of hypertension-mediated target organ damage, evaluation of possible vascular, renal and hormonal causes, assessment and management of concomitant risk factors with specific attention for obesity, and anti-hypertensive strategies, especially focused on life-style modifications. The Consensus Panel also suggests aspects that should be studied with high priority, including generation of multi-ethnic sex, age and height specific European normative tables, implementation of randomized clinical trials on different diagnostic and therapeutic aspects, and long-term cohort studies to link with adult cardiovascular risk. Finally, suggestions for the successful implementation of the contents of the present Consensus document are also given.

A stakeholder-driven method for selecting implementation strategies: a case example of pediatric hypertension clinical practice guideline implementation

BACKGROUND

This article provides a generalizable method, rooted in co-design and stakeholder engagement, to identify, specify, and prioritize implementation strategies. To illustrate this method, we present a case example focused on identifying strategies to promote pediatric hypertension (pHTN) Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) implementation in community health center-based primary care practices that involved meaningful engagement of pediatric clinicians, clinic staff, and patients/caregivers. This example was chosen based on the difficulty clinicians and organizations experience in implementing the pHTN CPG, as evidenced by low rates of guideline-adherent pHTN diagnosis and treatment.

METHODS

We convened a Stakeholder Advisory Panel (SAP), comprising 6 pediatricians and 5 academic partners, for 8 meetings (~12 h total) to rigorously identify determinants of pHTN CPG adherence and to ultimately develop a testable multilevel, multicomponent implementation strategy. Our approach expanded upon the Expert Recommendations for Implementation Change (ERIC) protocol by incorporating a modified Delphi approach, user-centered design methods, and the Implementation Research Logic Model (IRLM). At the recommendation of our SAP, we gathered further input from youth with or at-risk for pHTN and their caregivers, as well as clinic staff who would be responsible for carrying out facets of the implementation strategy.

RESULTS

First, the SAP identified 17 determinants, and 18 discrete strategies were prioritized for inclusion. The strategies primarily targeted determinants in the domains of intervention characteristics, inner setting, and characteristics of the implementers. Based on SAP ratings of strategy effectiveness, feasibility, and priority, three tiers of strategies emerged, with 7 strategies comprising the top tier implementation strategy package. Next, input from caregivers and clinic staff confirmed the feasibility and acceptability of the implementation strategies and provided further detail in the definition and specification of those strategies.

CONCLUSIONS

This method-an adaptation of the ERIC protocol-provided a pragmatic structure to work with stakeholders to efficiently identify implementation strategies, particularly when supplemented with user-centered design activities and the intuitive organizing framework of the IRLM. This generalizable method can help researchers identify and prioritize strategies that align with the implementation context with an increased likelihood of adoption and sustained use.