Assessment of the educational competencies for the Hypertension Canada Professional Certification Program (HC-PCP) designed for implementation of hypertension guidelines into primary care

BACKGROUND: The uptake of clinical practice guidelines into practice is limited for many chronic conditions, including hypertension. The aim of this study was to ascertain the importance of the educational competencies for the development of the Hypertension Canada Professional Certification Program (HC-PCP) among frontline, primary care professionals (e.g., pharmacists, physicians, nurses). METHODS: A group of hypertension experts developed 15 competencies believed to be important for primary care professionals to master when providing hypertension management. These competencies were surveyed for consensus by frontline clinicians through the Hypertension Canada e-newsletter in 2018. Clinicians were asked to rank the importance of each competency for a primary care provider to acquire when undertaking a certification in hypertension management, using a Likert scale from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). RESULTS: A total of 121 clinicians responded to the survey. Of these, 38% were pharmacists, 31.4% were registered nurses, 10.7% were physicians and 7% were nurse practitioners. There was at least 1 respondent from each Canadian province and territory, except for the Northwest Territories. All 15 competencies received a mean rank of at least 4. The competency with the highest ranking was Competency 6: Ability to screen and identify hypertension (mean 4.83 [0.04]). The competencies with the lowest average ranks were Competency 1: Demonstrates a sound knowledge of the epidemiology of hypertension (mean 4.07 [0.85]) and Competency 5: Demonstrates an understanding of the validation process for blood pressure devices (mean 4.15 [0.08]). CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians generally ranked all 15 competencies to be of high importance for a provider who is certified in hypertension management to possess. These competencies and the current Hypertension Canada guidelines were used as the foundation for the development of an education program called the Hypertension Canada Professional Certification Program. Can Pharm J (Ott) 2021;154:xx-xx.