Hypertension and Chronic Kidney Disease in Primary Care

INTRODUCTION: TBL enables a group of learners to engage in independent preparation through prereadings, check their knowledge with readiness assessments, and both share and build on their personal experience with each topic through robust small-group discussions. This TBL exercise uses case-based questions to enable learners to make a treatment plan for challenging cases of hypertension and to manage chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the primary care setting. METHODS: This module serves as part of a series of team-based learning (TBL) modules in an internal medicine residency ambulatory medicine curriculum. The modules are delivered during the didactic half-days of the ambulatory week of our 3 + 1 block schedule. This particular module takes approximately 90 minutes to deliver and is intended to be moderated by an experienced primary care clinician. RESULTS: Learners who participated in this TBL felt that it increased their knowledge about hypertension and CKD; they gave it an average rating of 4.67/5 (n = 30). DISCUSSION: TBL has been heavily utilized in undergraduate medical education, and we have adapted the method to use it with small groups of resident physicians. It may also be suitable for other learners who will be responsible for the treatment of hypertension and CKD in the primary care setting (e.g., family medicine residents, advanced practice nurses, and physician assistants).