Developing a hypertension management course for residents

Objective: One of the important problems in hypertension management is adherence to the treatment. A successful communication with the patient is yet an unattempted method for the adherence to the treatment of hypertension. The aim of the project is to develop a course for hypertension management at the graduate medical education level in the light of latest studies and increasingneeds. Materials and Methods: Presentations and case discussions were used for the goals of course in knowledge domain; standardized patient encounters and debriefing sessions in skill and attitude domains. Encounter scripts were written for specific situations and a rubric was developed for the evaluation of the encounters. Results: Content validity of the rubric was evaluated by the experts, and generalizability coefficient was calculated as 0,86 for interrater reliability. The expectations of the students were wellmatched by the goals, and in their feedback, they mentioned that all were met at the end of the course. There was a significant difference between the initial and final performances of the students in the encounters. Conclusion: The goals of the course were achieved in terms of training and assessment. It can be implemented to the educational programs in the related specialities.