Consultation training of nurses for cardiovascular prevention - A randomized study of 2 years duration

AbstractThe aim of this study was to increase patients’ adherence to the treatment of hypertension through the consultation training of nurses. Thirty-three nurses were included in the study. In the intervention group (IG), 19 nurses took part in a 3-day residential training course on the Stages of Change model, Motivational Interviewing and guidelines for cardiovascular prevention, and recruited 153 patients. Sixteen nurses in the control group (CG) recruited 59 patients. A decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and total cholesterol was noticed in both groups over the 2 years. Heart rate (p = 0.027), body mass index (p = 0.019), weight (p = 0.0001), waist (p = 0.041), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (p = 0.0001), the waist–hip ratio (p = 0.024), and perceived stress (p = 0.001) decreased to any great extent only in the IG. After 2 years, 52.6% of the patients in the IG (p = 0.13) reached the target of ≤ 140/90 mmHg in blood pressure compared with 39.2% in the CG. For self-reported physica...