The experiences of the newly diagnosed hypertensive patients admitted into tertiary hospital campus in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the experiences of the newly diagnosed hypertensive patients admitted into tertiary hospital campus in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. A qualitative, phenomenological, explorative, descriptive research was conducted to explore and describe the experiences of those newly diagnosed hypertensive patients. Purposive sampling technique was used to include 12 participants who voluntarily took part in the unstructured interview sessions until data saturation was reached. Data were analyzed using the Tesch’s open coding qualitative data analysis method (1990) as outlined in Creswell (2009) in two themes namely: Participants’ experiences related to new hypertension diagnosis and lack of knowledge related to the disease. The study recommended a health education plan which could be followed every time when health professionals have an encounter with newly diagnosed hypertensive patients. Awareness campaigns regarding hypertension would educate family and community members about hypertension.

Keywords: Newly diagnosed, hypertension, experiences.