Are general practitioners in primary health care aware of hypertension treatment guidelines?

Abstract

Background: Only 14% of patients on anti-hypertensive drugs achieve the recommended blood pressure level. Guidelines help clinicians managing patients with hypertension. Objective: The primary purpose of the study was to survey general practitioners in Kuwait about their awareness, and to disclose their reasons for not implementing specific guidance within the WHO/ISH guidelines. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional survey that was carried in the five health regions of Kuwait. All PHC physicians who were currently working as GPs were asked to participate in the study. Data was collected out using a structured self-administered questionnaire, including clinically oriented questions formulated on the basis of the 1999 World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension, as standard reference Results: The study revealed that 39.6% and 50.9% of GPs were very familiar or somewhat familiar respectively with the guidelines, 91.3% were in agreement with WHO/ISH guidelines. More than three quarters (84.5%) of the GPs indicated that they always or usually follow these guidelines when treating patients. Regarding the correct choice of the 20 guidelines statements,only 10.6% of the GPs answered correctly less than ten of the 20 statements, 55.0% answered 10 to less than 15, and 34.4 % answered ≥ 15 statements, none choose correctly the 20 statements. Conclusion:The results of this survey indicate that there is a need to establish nationwide educational and quality monitoring programs to facilitate the correct implementation of hypertension guidelines in PHC clinical practices in Kuwait.