Targeting of UnControlled Hypertension in Emergency Department (TOUCHED)

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R33 · $492,324 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Changing care delivery models to address uncontrolled hypertension (HTN) while decreasing the secondary cardiovascular complications commonly seen in underrepresented populations that use the emergency department (ED) for primary care are critically needed. Uncontrolled hypertension (HTN) contributes significantly to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and is more frequently encountered among patients presenting to the ED as compared to the primary care setting. EDs serve as the point of entry into the health care system for many high-risk patient populations, including minority and low-income patients. Based upon recent studies, the prevalence of uncontrolled/undiagnosed HTN in patients presenting to the ED is alarmingly high. Thus emergency department engagement and early risk assessment/stratification is a feasible innovation to help close health disparity gaps in HTN. This proposal involves a two-arm randomized controlled trial of 686 patients from the Emergency Department at University of Illinois Hospital with moderately elevated blood pressures (BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg). The primary outcome will be blood pressure improvement. Secondary outcomes will be blood pressure control, improvement of cardiovascular risk score, medication adherence, primary care engagement, patient motivation, and HTN knowledge. The central hypothesis of our proposal is that an ED-based educational and empowerment (E2) intervention coupled with an ED pharmacist/Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) Post-Acute Care Hypertension Transition Consultation (PACHT-c) and mobile health remote BP monitoring will educate and empower patients to improve their BPs and decrease their cardiovascular risk profile as measured by the Framingham Risk Score, and can be impactful in a predominately underrepresented hypertensive population.

Key facts

NIH application ID
10476989
Project number
5R33HL139454-05
Recipient
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Principal Investigator
HEATHER Marie PRENDERGAST
Activity code
R33
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2022
Award amount
$492,324
Award type
5
Project period
2018-09-05 → 2024-08-31