Healthcare Screenings in the Occupational and Workplace Setting: Taking Control Over Blood Pressure

Undiagnosed hypertension continues to be a growing concern worldwide leading to cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses and can contribute to death. The prevalence of hypertension continues to increase even with guidelines on screening, hypertension education, disease prevention, disease maintenance, and management. The purpose of this project was to determine if the implementation of a workplace blood pressure screening program would improve hypertension knowledge and reduce the burden of hypertension within workplace. A descriptive, cross-sectional design using convenience sampling was conducted. Participants were screened by measuring blood pressures, and the Hypertension Evaluation of Lifestyle Management scale (HELM) was utilized to assess participants’ hypertension knowledge pre/post intervention. Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (HBPM) devices were utilized for two weeks, followed by a 30-day follow-up. Paired t-test of pre/post systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) showed significant improvement in DBPs only. Lastly, the paired t-test of the HELM scale scores showed significant changes in hypertension knowledge post intervention. Findings from this Doctor of Nursing Practice Project resulted in a significant short-term improvement of DBP and increased hypertension knowledge. This project laid a foundation for future studies on the importance of screening practices, use of patient specific education (evidence-based), and the importance of the use of HBPM in hypertension screening