Improving treatment of severe hypertension in pregnancy and postpartum using a hypertensive pathway

Objective To assess the implementation of an antihypertensive pathway order set to improve treatment of severe hypertension in pregnancy and the postpartum period in the inpatient setting. Study design A multi-disciplinary task force created a hypertensive pathway order set and provided staff training. The order set allowed providers to initiate a treatment algorithm, which then gave nurses guidelines to recheck blood pressures and progressively increase short-acting antihypertensive dosage if needed. Pregnant and postpartum patients documented to have ≥2 consecutive severe range blood pressures in the year prior (2017) and the year after (2019) implementation of the pathway were included. Primary outcomes included whether any antihypertensive was given, whether it was given for all instances of severe hypertension, and time to antihypertensive administration. Results A total of 566 patients with severe hypertension were included—304 in the pre-implementation year and 262 in the post-implementation year. Significantly more patients received an antihypertensive at least once (67 % versus 80 %, p < 0.01) and for all instances of severe hypertension (29 % versus 47 %, p < 0.01) in the post-intervention cohort. There was a significant improvement in time to antihypertensive administration (24 versus 10 min, p < 0.01). Conclusion This study evaluates the efficacy of an antihypertensive intervention in the Southeast United States, which is particularly significant given the region’s higher rates of hypertension and hypertension-related mortality. This study provides confirmatory evidence that implementation of a standardized order set along with measuring compliance and staff education is associated with improved treatment rates and time to treatment administration.