Blood Pressure Clinics Help Put South Shore Medical Center Patients in Control

It’s high blood pressure education month, a good time to focus on the importance of controlling hypertension, a condition that affects nearly half of the adults ages 20 years and up (122 million) in the U.S.

Hypertension – a systolic blood pressure greater than 130 mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure greater than 80 mmHG puts you at risk for heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death.

And only 1 in 4 adults with hypertension have the condition under control.

South Shore Medical Center has made a commitment to helping patients monitor, reach and maintain healthy blood pressure through its weekly clinics. Specially trained nurses working in collaboration with the primary care teams work toward a goal of improving blood pressure in our patient population. 

Blood pressure clinics are held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Norwell office and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday in the Kingston office.  And plans are underway to offer clinics at our Quincy office beginning in late fall.

Launched during the pandemic, SSMC blood pressure clinics treated 96 patients from March to December 2021. After some streamlining, 450 patients were seen in 2022 and the clinics continue to reach a growing patient population.

South Shore Medical Center patients are referred to our clinics by their primary care provider, through a specialty visit, urgent care, cardiology, OB/GYN, or through outreach by our Population Health department.

Each appointment is a 30-minute visit, in which nurses work with patients to discuss not only their blood pressure, but also lifestyle, diet, exercise and any barriers they may be facing. Working with providers, nurses at the BP clinics can increase medications if needed to help patients reach their goals.

We take a comprehensive look at our patients and talk about the way things like diet, smoking, alcohol and stress can impact their blood pressure.

Patients who have two consecutive visits at their goal blood pressure “graduate” from the clinic and can follow up with their provider in 6 months.  But some patients continue to come to the clinics and enjoy the extra access to care.

Medical Center patients who have had a high blood pressure reading or have a diagnosis of hypertension and want to schedule a visit in our nurse BP Clinic can call 781-585-2200. For more information on our blood pressure clinics visit our website.

Andrea Stephen, RN, is a Nurse Manager in Family Medicine and Kristen Peterson, RN, is an Internal Medicine Nurse Supervisor at our Norwell practice. Learn more about our nurse BP Clinics at South Shore Medical Center.