Evaluation of antihypertensive drug prescribing in a primary care clinic.
Although the National High Blood Pressure Education Program has been in existence since the early 1970's, reported evaluation of drug prescribing for ambulatory, hypertensive patients for conformance with the stepped-care approach and approved drug labeling is lacking in the literature. To study this, charts of hypertensive patients from a primary care clinic were retrospectively reviewed against explicit treatment criteria. It was found that nearly all the antihypertensive drug prescribing was in accord with the criteria, with the exception of the scheduling of return visits to the clinic and monitoring. The community pharmacist's role in improving patient monitoring is discussed.
D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D004363:Drug Utilization; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*