5. Wild Card
- Date: 2024-10-25
- Concurrent Session: Concurrent Session F
- Time: 11:15 am- 12 pm
- Room:
- Style: Presentation (information provided to audience, with opportunity for audience to ask question)
- Focus: Balance between both (e.g. Presentation of a best-practice guideline that combines research evidence, policy issues and practical steps for implementation)
- Target Audience: Leadership (ED, clinical lead, board chair, board member, etc.) Clinical providers Representatives of stakeholder/partner organizations
Learning Objectives:
Participants will learn:
- Describe what Ontario Health quality standards are, their development, and how to access them.
- Identify opportunities in their own practice to improve the care provided to people with hypertension and their care partners.
- Access useful tools and resources for use in clinical practice and to share with people who have been diagnosed with hypertension or who are at risk of developing hypertension.
Summary/Abstract:
This session will provide an overview of the new 2024 Hypertension: Care in the Community for Adults quality standard released in February 2024 by Ontario Health. It will include practical strategies for its use, emphasizing opportunities for primary care clinicians to improve care, and highlighting resources they can use in their practice and share with patients and care partners. Hypertension is the most common modifiable risk factor for death or disability for people in Ontario. In 2021, 47% of people aged 65 years and older reported having received a diagnosis of hypertension; for 30% of them, their hypertension is poorly managed. Between 2017 and 2022, the number of emergency department visits with a diagnosis of hypertension rose by 19%. High-quality hypertension management in primary care and home and community care settings is key to preventing avoidable emergency department visits and unplanned hospitalizations. This session will focus on the 7 key opportunities to improve care outlined in the quality standard, including: culturally responsive care; accurate measurement of blood pressure; out-of-office assessment to confirm diagnosis; health behaviour changes; care planning and self-management; monitoring and follow-up after a confirmed diagnosis; and improving adherence to medications. Primary care clinicians have an essential role to play in delivering this care. Presenters will also share key resources, including a clinical placemat and patient guide, to help clinicians implement the standard in their practice, and empower people with hypertension to improve self-management. The goal is to help improve primary care for people who have been diagnosed with hypertension or who are at risk of developing hypertension for improved patient outcomes and health care system utilization.
Presenter:
- Adam Steacie Family Physician Upper Canada Family Health Team
- Aska Patel Consultant Pharmacist Central West Region
- Gracia Mabaya Lead, Clinical and Quality Standards Ontario Health