J Korean Community Nurs.  2004 Sep;15(3):385-396.

Analysis of the Current Hypertension Control Program in Public Health Centers

• Lee IS
• Chin YR

Abstract

PURPOSE
Hypertension has been a major cause of death in Korea since the 1970s, and has resulted in being a significant economic burden to the finances of national health care. The Ministry of Health and Welfare made several efforts, but hypertension control programs in Korea are still non-standardized and ineffective. We wanted to investigate the current hypertension control program in public health centers systematically and suggest the direction for future programs. METHOD: The design of this study is a cross-sectional investigation. From September to October in 2002, we sent a set of questionnaires to all PHCs, and 179 centers responded (response rate= 74.0 %). The instrument was developed based on components of National health systems.
RESULTS
1) Resources: The department responsible for hypertension control programs is the Department of Health Promotion, Health Education Center, Community Health Center, Citizen's Health Center, etc. The chief personnel of those departments are nurses, but 27.4% of PHCs have no full time nurse for hypertension management programs. PHCs had a lot of teaching materials (nine types per a PHC) and most of the recommended contents were included. But, periodical evaluation and revision were not being made. 2) Management: Nurses' (13.03 9.46 in 23 score) actions for hypertension control were not qualitative, but regular training and evaluation were seldom carried out. Need assessment (25.9%) and evaluation (about 10-20%) for the hypertension control program were indicated as low. 3) Programs: Programs focused on individuals rather than community or public, and 2nd prevention rather than 1st, 3rd prevention.
CONCLUSION
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has to construct the infrastructure for hypertension control programs. Related scholars and committees should develop and declare standardized manuals for hypertension control and the management system, as well.

MeSH Terms

Cause of Death
Community Health Centers
Delivery of Health Care
Health Education
Health Promotion
Hypertension*
Korea
Public Health*
Surveys and Questionnaires
Teaching Materials