Using an e-health intervention to enhance patient visits for hypertension: The nurse practitioner perspective

Abstract

This article reports the findings from interviews with 11 nurse practitioners (NPs) who provided an in-office, e-health intervention as part of a randomized clinical trial aimed at improving medication adherence and reducing adverse self-medication behaviors in older adults with hypertension. The NPs’ perspective of their experience with training for the research protocol, recruitment of patient participants, implementing the e-health intervention, and patient response was elicited through open-ended questions in individual face-to-face tape recorded interviews.

Keywords:

• Qualitative research
• nurse practitioners
• e-health intervention
• older adults
• communication
• hypertension

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute): Grant R01 HL084208. Trial Registration (clinical trials.gov) Identifier: NCT00201201. The authors thank Dr Cheryl Beck for her guidance in the qualitative methods used in this study.

Conflicts of interest statement

The University of Connecticut granted an exclusive license for the PEP-NG to AdhereTx Corporation on 25 August 2009. The University of Connecticut and Patricia J. Neafsey are shareholders of AdhereTx. Jessica Planas and Elizabeth Anderson have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessica Alicea-Planas

Jessica Alicea-Planas, RN, MPH, PhD CHES is an assistant professor in the School of Nursing at the Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT. She has worked as a community health nurse in underserved areas for over a decade and is certified health education specialist (CHES). She received her undergraduate, masters and doctoral nursing degrees from the University of Connecticut and her master's in public health is from Southern Connecticut State University. Her primary area of interest encompasses Latino health disparities with a focus on chronic disease management, health literacy and health education.

Patricia J. Neafsey

Patricia Neafsey, PhD is professor, Center for Health Intervention and Prevention and School of Nursing at the University of Connecticut. She is a pharmacologist and author on over 100 peer reviewed publications and 25 computer-assisted instructional programs in pharmacology. She was principal investigator on grants from the University of Connecticut Research Foundation, the Donaghue Medical Research Foundation, and the NIH National Heart Lung and Blood Institute that funded the development and testing of the Next-Generation Personal Education Program (PEP-NG), an e-health intervention to improve patient adherence to antihypertensive regimens and reduce adverse self-medication behaviors. The University of Connecticut granted an exclusive license for the PEP-NG to AdhereTx Corporation, a provider of web-based solutions that facilitate patient data collection and automate coordination of care for medication management in patients with chronic diseases. Dr. Neafsey serves as principal scientist for AdhereTx.