Nurse management of hypertension clinics in general practice assisted by a computer

• HIT Description: Computerized decision support. More info...
  
• Purpose of Study: Evaluate the management of hypertension with assistance of a computer.
  
• Years of study: Not Available
  
• Study Design: Case study w/concurrent control
  
• Outcomes: Impact on health care effectivness/quality
  

• Settings: Three hundred seventy-seven patients with hypertension from four general practices in Birmingham, Alabama participated in the study.
• Intervention: Practices with a computer protocol for the management of hypertension by nurses were compared to a practice without computer assistance.
• Evaluation Method: Measures of patient care, diastolic blood pressure, weight, and smoking cessation.
• Quality of Care and Patient Safety Outcome: Three practices representing approximately 80% of the total patients had a computer-assisted care program and there is no evidence that this improved their care. Three-quarters of the patients had reached their target diastolic blood pressure by the end of the study compared with 50% at the beginning. The proportion of patients with normal weights for their heights increased, and almost one-fifth of those patients who admitted to smoking at the onset subsequently stated that they had stopped.