As cases of diabetes and hypertension rise, providers can focus on shared decision-making with patients to improve heart health and outcomes.
Healthcare leaders are constantly looking to target meaningful change and improve outcomes and costs, and can do so by assessing population-wide conditions and empowering clinical staff with tools to support their patients. One area of focus can be the rise in incidences of hypertension related to increased diabetes cases.
The link between diabetes and hypertension
Cases of diabetes in the United States have tripled over the past 30 years and models of rising trends of diabetes among youth predict it could dramatically impact people under 20 by 2060. With the rise in type 2 diabetes comes higher cases of hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD) – patients with diabetes are twice as likely to have hypertension.
Hypertension increases the risk for a variety of additional CVDs, including aneurysms, coronary heart disease, arrhythmias, and metabolic syndrome, as well as other damage to other parts of the body.
As heart conditions among patients rise, so does the need for clinical answers. Within the UpToDate® clinical decision support platform, five of the top 30 most viewed topics in 2023 were on heart-related conditions and usage for heart-related content increased 7% from 2022 to 2023. This is indicating clinicians are increasingly looking for heart-related topics to support their patients.
By taking a systemic approach toward addressing hypertension – including involving patients in their journey – health systems and administrators can support better outcomes and reduce long-term costs of care.
Shared decision-making can support patient health journeys
As health systems increasingly focus on patient-centered care, shared decision-making (SDM) between providers and patients is a strategy clinicians can use to engage patients in their health journey. One study outlines the four steps of putting SDM into practice:
- Foster a conversation with patients, identifying and defining any problems.
- Purposely select and adapt the SDM process by matching preferences, reconciling conflicts, problem-solving, and attaching meaning to the health issue.
- Supporting SDM through deploying tools that help patients participate and support the care journey.
- Evaluate and learn beyond just the outcomes, and seek joint improvement.
When it comes to heart health, hypertension, and CVD, much of the required progress relies on patients doing their own health work outside the care setting. In addition to monitoring and testing blood sugar and blood pressure, patients can make a number of lifestyle changes, including following a healthy diet, losing a modest amount of weight, staying active daily, managing stress, and even managing anger. Providers need to find productive, concrete ways to stay engaged with patients beyond the clinic to help partner with them in their journey.