Hypertension Tools and Training
Guidelines and Recommendations
Million Hearts®
Learn more about hypertension control resourcesexternal icon and success strategiesexternal icon for clinicians from the Million Hearts® Initiative.
- Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring Action Guide pdf icon[PDF – 1.00 MB]external icon
This guide provides guidance and resources for public health practitioners on the integration of self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP) with clinical feedback into chronic disease prevention efforts. Clinicians, public health practitioners, health care systems, and individuals can use these strategies to improve blood pressure control and improve health outcomes for patients with hypertension. SMBP is a strategy promoted by Million Hearts®external icon and numerous national and international health organizations. - 2017 Hypertension Clinical Practice Guidelines
The ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines was released on Monday, November 13, 2017. - 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americansexternal icon
These guidelines, published jointly every 5 years by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, provide authoritative advice about good dietary habits that can promote health and reduce risk of disease. - Guide to Community Preventive Servicesexternal icon
This guide summarizes what is known about the effectiveness, economic efficiency, and feasibility of interventions to promote community health and prevent disease. - The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressureexternal icon
This 2003 report from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute provides recommendations for doctors based on clinical research. - Surgeon General’s Reports Related to Tobacco Use
This website provides links to reports about smoking and health, including reports on tobacco use among ethnic minority groups and young people.
Tools
- Hypertension Fact Sheets for Providers
- Hypertension Control Change Package for Cliniciansexternal icon
The Hypertension Control Change Package for Clinicians presents a listing of process improvements that ambulatory clinical settings can implement as they seek optimal hypertension control. It is composed of change concepts, change ideas, and evidence- or practice-based tools and resources. - Hypertension Prevalence Estimator Tool
This interactive Million Hearts®tool is a great starting point for health systems or practices to better understand hypertension prevalence among their patient population. The tool generates an expected percentage of patients with hypertension based on the specific characteristics of a health system’s or practice’s patient population. Providers can then compare the expected prevalence to their calculated prevalence. If the values are quite different, there may be patients “hiding in plain sight”. - Tools for Community Health Workers (CHWs) To Help Control Hypertension
Hispanic populations have low control rates for hypertension, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Also, they have high prevalence of high blood cholesterol, and their diets often are high in salt and saturated fats. Reaching these audiences with effective messages about prevention can be challenging.
Use these tools and training resources to help your practice achieve hypertension control for your patients.
Training
- Roadmap for State Program Planning
A Web-based resource for training and information to help build the competencies needed by state Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (HDSP) Program coordinators. It provides suggested steps for carrying out requirements of the HDSP Program, as well as easy online access to training, tools, and other resources needed for successful program development and implementation. The Roadmap offers information on key areas of programmatic activities for developing and implementing a heart disease and stroke prevention program. - A Community Health Worker Training Resource
An evidence-based, plain-language training resource and reference for CHWs, as well as a curriculum that health educators, nurses, and other instructors can use to train CHWs. The updated resource has 15 chapters that show how CHWs can help individuals prevent or manage heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, depression and stress, and other lifestyle risk factors. Also included are sections about working with children and teens and helping individuals talk to their doctor and take medicines properly.
Other Publications
- A Closer Look at African American Men and High Blood Pressure Control: A Review of Psychosocial Factors and Systems-Level Interventions
African American men are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease, with one of the risk factors being uncontrolled high blood pressure. A heightened response is required due to the disparities in high blood pressure control in African American men. This book was created to provide a resource for public health programs, including the state HDSP programs, that addresses high blood pressure control in this population.
- Potential need for expanded pharmacologic treatment and lifestyle modification services under the 2017 ACC/AHA Hypertension Guidelineexternal icon
Abstract: “Application of the 2017 ACC/AHA Hypertension Guideline expands the number of US adults requiring blood pressure (BP) management. The authors use 2011‐2014 NHANES data to describe the population groups most affected by the new guideline, compared with the previous JNC‐7 guideline, and describe the previous interaction with the health care sector among those adults recommended new or intensified pharmacologic treatment and/or lifestyle modification.” - Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring Action Guidesexternal icon
Clinicians, public health practitioners, health care systems, and individuals can focus on disease management strategies to improve blood pressure control to improve health outcomes for patients with hypertension. Self-measured blood pressuring monitoring (SMBP) is one such strategy that is being promoted by Million Hearts® and numerous national and international health organizations. The SMBP guide provides guidance and resources for public health practitioners on the integration of self-measured blood pressure monitoring with clinical feedback into chronic disease prevention efforts.
Page last reviewed: January 28, 2021
