In April 2015 the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) published research, funded through the active award, which indicates that approximately two thirds of older Irish adults have high blood pressure and close to half of them are unaware of their condition. High blood pressure is an important risk factor for heart disease and stroke which can be prevented and managed.
Through this application, the TILDA team will ensure that general practitioners (GPs), nurses and future nurses working in primary care practice and in the community in Ireland will be informed of these findings through a series of countrywide seminars. GPs and nurses are in contact with the general public on a daily basis, many of whom are completely unaware that their blood pressure is high. These health professionals are in the best position to develop routines in clinical practice which will improve the prevention, early detection and management of patients with high blood pressure, therefore having a positive impact on the health of the population before complications of high blood pressure occur. The seminars will be delivered through professional associations and nurse education programmes in locations and educational facilities throughout the country. The unfunded pilot programme launched in the Dublin area identified the demand for this information through ongoing requests locally and nationally.
Funding this research dissemination ensures knowledge translation activities will effect on the ground changes at the local level to improve population health around the country for one of Ireland’s most pressing health challenges: high blood pressure.
