Abstract Body: Background: Accurate blood pressure (BP) measurement in primary care is the cornerstone of hypertension diagnosis and management. However, primary care providers face several well-established barriers that persist in modern practice. Implementation strategies are needed to address workflow challenges and resource constraints to improve the quality of BP measurement.
Hypothesis: Various barriers persist in performing high quality BP measurements in clinical settings. The aim of this analysis was to better understand these barriers and enablers in primary care from the perspectives of healthcare professionals.
Methods: This analysis reports on n=12 semi-structured interviews conducted with primary care providers [general practitioners (GPs n=4), nurses (n=4), and pharmacists (n=4)] according to an interview schedule (constructed using the Theoretical Domains Framework) that included recall of BP measurement method and prompts to explore workflow barriers. An interim analysis was completed to understand individual- (provider), practice- and system- level barriers and enablers to BP measurement in primary care. Interviews were conducted online and were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed.
Results: Interviews identified various provider- (awareness of standardised measurement techniques, prioritising accurate measurements, unstandardised technique between patients, individual preferences for devices and techniques), practice- (availability of devices, preference for particular measurement technique, sufficient staffing, adequate resourcing, allocated space for measurements, establishing targets) and system- (training and proficiency for blood pressure measurements, funding constraints, time availability) level barriers and enablers to BP measurement (Figure 1).
Conclusion: This work reports on a preliminary analysis of the challenges of blood pressure measurement in clinical practice. These barriers will be mapped to existing implementation frameworks to identify proven strategies to address these challenges.