Feasibility of a nurse-led home-based follow-up hypertensive care: A randomized control study in a North Central State of Nigeria

Abstract

This article reported the development of a nurse-led, home-based follow-up care (HBFC) for hypertensive patients in Ilorin, Nigeria and assessed its feasibility. A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was carried out in a tertiary hospital in Ilorin, Nigeria. For this study, 229 patients were recruited and openly randomized into patients that were followed up at home for 12 months (intervention) and those that were allowed to continue with the usual follow-up care (control) in the hospital using the usual routine hospital visit. The study presented the feasibility assessment of HBFC using three cardinal criteria; evidence of implementation, acceptability and practicability. There were retention rates of 83.9% and 83.3% for the intervention and study groups respectively. While no patients discontinued from among the patients in the intervention group, 13 patients discontinued in the control group. We concluded that it is feasible to conduct a home-based care for hypertension patients in a low resource setting like Nigeria.

Key words: Feasibility, Home-based, Nurse-led, hypertension, Nigeria