In the context of World Kidney Day, Nurse-Midwife Patricia Morgado, participated in the implementation and training around Sphygmomanometers in the town of Chiloé. In addition to that, took advantage of this opportunity to highlight the importance of understanding the factors that cause hypertension and how we can prevent this situation that affects our country..
Below is Patricia Morgado's interview with the Chilean Hypertension Society:
What do the courses you are developing focus on and why have they been held in Chiloé??
The courses are focused on updating the knowledge of health team professionals in high blood pressure in children., adolescents and adults, training them in the correct measurement of blood pressure in the same age groups. Approved professionals receive a “Certificate of Competence in Blood Pressure Measurement”, issued by the Chilean Hypertension Society.
Year 2012, the Head of the Department of Non-Communicable Diseases of the Ministry of Health, Dra. María Cristina Escobar F., requested the Chilean Hypertension Society to take charge of this training at the national level for the health teams of the Cardiovascular Health Program, initiative that was approved by the Company's Board of Directors, starting the activity that same year with a course in Santiago and another in Rancagua. In 2013, The National Children's Program incorporated the measurement of blood pressure in the routine monitoring of children from the age of 3 years. Considering the importance of measurement in them, We decided to incorporate the topic into our courses..
Courses have been held in various regions of the country, but the Chiloé Health Service is the first Service that acquires validated equipment and cuffs for all the health equipment in its establishments., including hospitals.
What is your main objective when carrying out the workshops??
The first objective is for professionals to be very clear about the importance of high blood pressure as a cardiovascular risk factor and as a pathology that produces premature death., invalidity, loss of work days due to medical leaves and leaves important consequences; that they consider the screening of hypertensive people in their work routine and address with them the issue of healthy lifestyles that are the basis for good control of the pathology.
The 2nd objective is to ensure that trained people take blood pressure correctly, using the proper technique (validated measuring equipment, patient sitting correctly, not having smoked, nor having drunk coffee nor having done physical exercise at least 30 minutes before measurement, having remained at rest 5 minutes before measurement,among other), having asked about the consumption of medications that alter blood pressure, use of cuffs of size appropriate to the age in children and adolescents and to the arm circumference in adults and adolescents more developed for the age and not only the standard adult cuff that is for arm circumferences between 26 y 33 cm, but also those for thin adults (arm circumference between 22 y 28 cm) and for adults with very thick or muscular arms (arm circumference between 33 y 47 cm).
What expectations do you have about this experience??
- Contribute to meeting the ministerial goal by 2020 to have at least 1 trained and certified professional in each health facility at the primary level of care throughout the country.
- That trained professionals replicate what they have learned in their workplaces with the members of the teams in charge of blood pressure measurement., so that they do it correctly, using validated equipment and appropriate cuffs.
- That the managers of the establishments give the importance of the correct measurement and control of hypertensive patients and acquire the necessary supplies..
Fuente: 4ID/CONGRESS, All rights reserved. ®
Journalist: Patricio Grunert Alarcón ® in collaboration with Patricia Morgado.
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Cite as source: 4ID/CONGRESS ® / Patricio Grunert Alarcón, All rights reserved. ®