This YouTube video is one of the many resources available to support home blood pressure monitoring.
Our committee recently launched an initiative to support home blood pressure monitoring by kidney patients who attend any one of BC’s 15 Kidney Care Clinics (or Centres) around the province. This potentially includes about 13,000 registered kidney patients who are neither on dialysis nor have had a kidney transplant.
We’ve provided some education around the importance of home blood pressure monitoring and developed resources to support our patients in home monitoring as well as enabling our staff to provide teaching and assistance to empower their patients to perform that monitoring.
High blood pressure is one of the major risk factors of kidney disease, and next to diabetes, is the second leading cause of kidney failure in North America. Even for those patients who have kidney disease from a cause other than high blood pressure, blood pressure management is an essential part of treating kidney disease.
Traditionally, blood pressure was just checked at doctors’ offices and clinics, but more and more experts now recommend that patients with high blood pressure regularly check their blood pressure at home. This is because home blood pressure monitoring has been shown to predict health outcomes better than office blood pressure measurements. It helps with early recognition of changes, and then if required, adjustments to the treatment plan. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, it also gives patients an idea where their blood pressure stands between clinic visits, which can motivate them to be more aware of their health and empower them to play an active role in their care.
Since blood pressure management is a main part of kidney care, most patients can benefit from home monitoring. Our goal is to ultimately have most of our patients performing home monitoring, but to start those with existing hypertension or concerns about their blood pressure are expected to benefit the most and are the highest priority as we roll out this program.
Our committee has developed several resources to support staff in teaching patients about home blood pressure monitoring, as well as resources for patients. These are available on the BC Renal website at
www.bcrenal.ca/health-professionals/clinical-resources/kidney-care-(non-dialysis) under the Kidney Care Guidelines tab and the Home Blood Pressure Monitoring heading. Here they are as well:
Our committee members are excited to support an increase in home blood pressure monitoring because it can really make a difference in helping patients play a part in managing their own care and staying as healthy as possible.
