Compliance with standard treatment guidelines in the management of hypertension: a review of practice of healthcare workers in Potchefstroom, North West Province, South Africa

Figures & data

Table 1: Hypertensive management steps

Steps	Intervention
Immediately	Amlodipine for hypertensive emergency blood pressure > 180/130 mmHg or hypertensive urgency blood pressure > 240/140 mmHg
1	Lifestyle modification only
2	Lifestyle modification and single anti-hypertensive group class
3	Lifestyle modification and two anti-hypertensive group classes
4	Lifestyle modification and three anti-hypertensive group classes
5	Life style modification and four anti-hypertensive group classes

Table 2: Facility prescribing encounters indicating strength of sample

Facility	Files	Number of encounters
BT Community health centre	7	132
P Community Health Centre	6	170
L clinic	3	74
M clinic	2	37
Hospital files	3	22

Note: The individual clinics and community health centres are abbreviated for confidentiality.

Table 3: Mean blood pressure of 21 patients at initial diagnosis

Factor	Numbers of patients	Minimum blood pressure	Maximum blood pressure	Mean	Standard deviation	p-value according to Kruskal–Wallis test: different clinics
Initial systolic blood pressure	21	126	154	138.48	8.76	0.803
Initial diastolic blood pressure	21	69	102	83.10	8.66	0.626

Table 4: Mean blood pressure for all encounters

Factor	Number of encounters	Minimum blood pressure	Maximum blood pressure	Mean	Standard deviation	p-value according to ANOVA
Systolic blood pressure	438	70	201	137.56	18.904	0.002
Diastolic blood pressure	438	44	149	80.59	14.587	0.00

Table 5: Systolic and diastolic blood pressure as measured on initial and all subsequent visits

Clinic	Variable	Numbers of encounters per clinic	Minimum blood pressure	Maximum blood pressure	Mean	Standard deviation
BT	Systolic blood pressure	132	70	200	137.56	17.73
	Diastolic blood pressure	132	44	134	80.58	13.38
L	Systolic blood pressure	75	100	180	136.62	18.68
	Diastolic blood pressure	75	49	149	72.56	15.93
M	Systolic blood pressure	39	110	190	146.69	21.21
	Diastolic blood pressure	39	51	118	84.53	15.26
Hospital	Systolic blood pressure	24	110	162	136.79	12.98
	Diastolic blood pressure	24	70	101	85.08	8.38
P	Systolic blood pressure	168	101	201	138.73	19.41
	Diastolic blood pressure	168	55	128	83.36	14.03
Consolidated Data	Systolic blood pressure	438	70	201	137.56	18.90
	Diastolic blood pressure	438	44	149	80.58	14.58

Table 6 Compliance in terms of diagnosis by healthcare workers

Healthcare workers	Encounters per healthcare worker	No (%)	Yes (%)
Unaccounted	1	1 (100)	0(0)
Doctors	4	1 (25)	3(75)
Professional nurses	16	7 (44)	9 (56)
Total	21	9 (42)	12 (58)

Table 7: Compliance with drug management by healthcare workers

Healthcare workers	Encounters per healthcare worker	No (%)	Yes (%)
Unaccounted	3	1 (33.3)	2 (66.7)
Doctors	45	20 (44.4)	25 (56.6)
Professional nurses	427	136 (31.9)	271 (63.5)
Total	475	157 (33.1)	298 (62.7)

Table 8: Compliance with non-drug management by healthcare workers

Healthcare workers	Unaccounted	Diet	Exercise	Health education	None	Treatment compliance	Smoking	Yes	Total
Unaccounted	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	3
Doctors	0	2	0	12	27	3	1	0	45
Professional nurses	16	43	4	52	236	70	4	2	427
Total (n)	16	46	4	64	265	73	5	2	475
Total (%)	3.4%	9.7%	0.8%	13.5%	55.8%	15.4%	1%	0.4%	100.0%