Ontario Health’s Hypertension quality standard addresses care for adults aged 18 years or older who
have been diagnosed with hypertension or who are at risk of developing
hypertension. It focuses on the prevention, screening, assessment, diagnosis,
and management of hypertension in primary care, and in long-term care and other
home and community care settings.
Affecting over 3 million people in Ontario, hypertension is
the most common modifiable risk factor for death or disability. As such,
improving care for people with hypertension or at risk for hypertension is an
urgent issue. The Hypertension quality standard outlines 7 key areas with the
potential to improve hypertension care for adults in Ontario.
Below are some tools and resources that may help you
implement the Hypertension quality statements in your practice, organized by
purpose. Many of these tools can be used to support multiple quality
statements.
In 2024, Ontario Health intends to develop a Hypertension
Quality Standard Implementation Toolkit that will draw from this list of tools
and resources. Are there other tools or resources you use that you think we
should include? If so, please share your thoughts in the comments section
below.
Tools and Resources to Support Clinical Practice
- List of Recommended Devices – Healthcare Professionals:
Hypertension Canada’s list of ambulatory and clinic-grade blood pressure
devices that meet the highest, most current international standards to help
clinicians make purchasing decisions.
- In-Office Blood Pressure Measurement Graphic: A 1-page
printable memory aid for clinicians from the American Medical Association and
the American Heart Association on how to accurately measure blood pressure
in-office.
- Self-Measured Blood Pressure – Patient Training Checklist:
A training checklist from the American Medical Association and the American
Heart Association to help clinicians teach patients how to accurately measure
their blood pressure at home.
- Hypertension Management Program For Primary Care Clinics –
Getting Started Toolkit
: A toolkit from CorHealth designed to help primary
care organizations assess where they are with respect to hypertension
management. Includes printable
patient self-management resources on healthy eating/DASH diet, managing stress, medication adherence, smoking cessation/alcohol reduction, sodium reduction, weight and physical activity, and how to measure and log blood pressure at home.
- Hypertension Management Program – Medication Adherence
Counselling Tips
: A resource from CorHealth with strategies to help
patients take their medications as prescribed.
- Clinically Appropriate Use of Virtual Care for Hypertension: Guidance from Ontario
Health to support primary care clinicians in the screening, assessment, and
management of patients with hypertension, using virtual care modalities to
deliver and plan care.
- Social Prescribing: A Resource for Health Professionals: A
comprehensive resource for clinicians from the Centre for Effective Practice
about why and how to use social prescribing to address patients’ social
determinants of health. Includes many useful tools and resources.
- Trauma-Informed Practice: A 4-page overview of how to provide trauma-informed care from CAMH:
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Tools and Resources to Support People With Hypertension and
Their Families and Care Partners
(*Also listed in the Hypertension
patient guide)
- Hypertension = High Blood Pressure: A webpage from Hypertension Canada with useful information
and resources for patients, including:
- Heart & Stroke:
A website with useful information and resources for patients, including:
- How to Measure Your Blood Pressure At Home: A 1-page printable infographic to
help patients remember how to prepare for, position for, and measure their
blood pressure at home from the American Medical Association and American Heart
Association.*
- MyGoal: Taking my blood pressure medications as prescribed: A 4-page
printable brochure for patients that lists common blood pressure medications,
explains their purpose, and offers tips on how to remember to take medications
daily.
- MediSafe:
A free smartphone app that reminds patients to take medications, measure their
blood pressure, refill prescriptions, and attend medical appointments.*
- Ontario Online Self-Management Program: A virtual,
province-wide program that offers free, one-on-one health coaching and
educational workshops to help patients learn to manage chronic conditions,
including hypertension.
Regional Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs offer free, local workshops and
other supports to help patients learn to manage chronic conditions, including
hypertension.*
- DASH Diet Recipes: A website from the Mayo Clinic with hundreds of heart-healthy
recipes for all occasions.
- How To Read Nutrition Facts Labels When You Have High Blood Pressure!: An
11-minute video by an American nephrologist that explains how to read food
labels correctly to help patients manage their hypertension (and other
conditions).
- Problematic Alcohol Use and Alcohol Use Disorder patient guide: A booklet by Ontario
Health that lists resources to help patients reduce their alcohol consumption.*
- The STOP Program: A smoking cessation program from CAMH: The Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health that connects people to free medication and
counselling to help them stop smoking.
Education Resources for Clinicians
Managing hypertension:
- Hypertension Canada Guidelines: Annually updated clinical practice guidelines to screen
for, treat, and manage hypertension for clinicians working in clinical and
community settings.
- Hypertension Canada Professional Certification Program: An
education program designed to equip primary clinicians with the knowledge and
confidence to identify and manage patients with hypertension. Cost: $250–$575
CAD.
- Achieving Accuracy: BP Measurement: A 30-minute e-learning module to help clinicians
improve their blood pressure measurement skills from the American Heart
Association and the American Medical Association. Cost: $25 USD.
- BP Positioning Challenge: An interactive tool from the American Heart
Association to help clinicians identify blood pressure measurement positioning
errors.
Culturally responsive care:
- Think Cultural Health: A Physician's Practical Guide to Culturally Competent Care:
A free, a self-directed e-learning program from the US Department of Health and
Human Services, designed to equip physicians and nurse practitioners with
competencies that will enable them to better treat an increasingly diverse
population.
- Anishinaabe Mino’Ayawiin – People in Good Health: Foundations of Indigenous Cultural Safety:
A 3-hour course from the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council on Indigenous
cultural safety for people working in health care. Cost: $175 CAD.
- Indigenous Relationship and Cultural Awareness Courses: A free, CME-accredited
e-learning program from Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) about the history
and culture of First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and urban Indigenous people and
communities. It is aimed at helping clinicians provide culturally appropriate,
person-centred care.
- Providing Diversity Competent Care booklets: Two booklets from the Fraser Health
Authority that highlight important values, beliefs, and practices to consider
when providing care for Muslims and people of the Sikh faith. Note: Scroll down
on the webpage for links to the booklets.
- Project ECHO: General Mental Health: Free, CME-accredited training for Ontario
clinicians about general mental health, including trauma-informed care.
Other resources
Quality Standards: Other Ontario Health quality standards
relevant to caring for people aged 18 years and older with hypertension
include: