# COmuNity-engaged SimULation Training for Blood Pressure Control (CONSULT-BP)

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER · 2020 · $761,684

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading contributor to racial disparities in life expectancy and
uncontrolled hypertension is a critical risk factor underlying this disparity. Despite interventions to overcome
barriers to hypertension control, accumulating evidence demonstrates that well-meaning, egalitarian providers
can harbor implicit biases that affect patient interactions, clinical decision-making, and the effectiveness of
interventions to mitigate cross-cultural differences. We propose a program called COmmuNity-engaged
SimULation Training for Blood Pressure Control (CONSULT-BP), a theory-based, multi-component, training
intervention that targets medical residents and nurse practitioner students. CONSULT-BP will adapt and test a
theory-based, `awareness, exposure and skill-building' intervention, applied in the safety of a simulation-based
learning center, to improve providers' interaction skills with minority and poor patients. We will use our
established platform of community-based participatory research to implement CONSULT-BP in an
academic medical center with a large, safety-net health system that serves a minority and poor population. The
CONSULT-BP project will: 1. recruit and hire Community Advisors (CA) representing diverse underserved
populations who will participate in the adaptation of evidence-based hypertension communication tools and the
design, development, and implementation of the training curriculum; 2. use online self-assessments of
clinicians' implicit bias for race and patient compliance to raise bias self-awareness and to examine the
effect of bias on knowledge and skill development; and 3. hire Community SPs to (a) conduct face-to-face,
simulated clinical encounters with medical trainees and NP students, and (b) provide evaluation and
feedback about communication skills along with trained CA observers and faculty facilitators. The educational
intervention is a program of two, 90-minute, sessions, spaced 5 weeks apart that combine online learning with
in-person skill practice. To understand how much training exposure is required to `move the needle' of clinical
skills and patient outcomes, we will assess the effect of CONSULT-BP by conducting two, sequential,
randomized trials. Trial 1 will evaluate the effectiveness of one-time CONSULT training on outcomes, and
Trial 2 will evaluate the effect of repeat, booster training on outcomes. To support training feasibility in
Trial 1, CONSULT-BP will train cohorts of IM, FM, and NP trainees over a 3-year period, and will target
advanced (2nd or 3rd-year) trainees within a given academic year for one-time exposure to the training
intervention. Within each academic year, we will randomize training times to 1 of 5 start dates using a stepped
wedge design to accommodate pre-existing training schedules and to mitigate the effect of temporal trends in
clinical skill proficiency. Trial 2 will randomly assign continuing trainee participants from Trial 1 to a secon...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9856151
- **Project number:** 5R01MD011532-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** JENNIFER TJIA
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $761,684
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-19 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9856151

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9856151, COmuNity-engaged SimULation Training for Blood Pressure Control (CONSULT-BP) (5R01MD011532-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9856151. Licensed CC0.

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