The effectiveness of short educational videos on proper home blood pressure monitoring knowledge among medical students: a pilot study

Objective: Hypertension is a major global public health problem. It is often poorly controlled leading to many health complications. The use of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) is an effective tool for assisting clinicians in diagnosing and managing patients with hypertension. HBPM has been proven to improve BP levels for at least twelve months when used in conjunction with co-inventions such as educational interventions or support from health care. Around 15% of those with hypertension are young adults; aged between 18–39 years. Developing hypertension at a young age puts this group at risk of earlier onset cardiovascular events. Challenges in treating hypertension in young adults include the perception that it is a disorder for older people; lack of health education; shortage of suitable educational materials; and limited health resources. Short videos are one of the ways to address this problem. Hence, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of short videos on knowledge of HBPM among medical students. Design and method: This is a pre-post interventional pilot study. It was done among 13 first year medical students in the Universiti Putra Malaysia from January to April 2022. The students were given a two-part online questionnaire on HBPM pre and immediately post intervention. The questionnaire was adapted from the Malaysian clinical practice guidelines on the management of hypertension and content validation was done by a panel of experts. It consisted of 20 questions, with one point for each correct answer. A higher score indicates better knowledge. The intervention consists of three short 1 minute videos on (1) things to avoid before taking blood pressure, (2) how to take proper HBPM and (3) how to take proper BP. Results: Thirteen students took part in the study. Most of the respondents were female n = 10, 76.9% and Malay ethnicity n = 12, 92.%, and mostly family income of 更多