INERTIA

Suboptimal blood pressure control is driven in part by clinical inertia, or the failure to intensify treatment when indicated. Interventions to overcome inertia have been only modestly successful perhaps because they have been insufficiently targeted to primary care providers. This three-arm randomized pragmatic trial was conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and involved 45 primary care providers and 466 patients. It tested the effect on treatment intensification of a social marketing-based pharmacist e-consult and a social norming intervention. It also identified characteristics of patients, providers, and their interactions to understand for whom each intervention would be most beneficial. Results will be published in 2025.

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04603560

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Co-Principal Investigators: Nancy Haff, MD, MPH and Niteesh Choudhry, MD, PhD