Divergent views of hospital staff on detecting and managing hypertension.

A questionnaire about detecting and managing hypertension was answered by 76 out of 110 (69%) doctors and 116 out of 195 (63%) qualified nurses in a large hospital. There was no general agreement on the method of taking diastolic blood pressures or on the level of hypertension requiring treatment. Most of the clinicians treated mild hypertension, although no proof exists that such treatment is beneficial. Almost everyone questioned agreed that measuring blood pressure in all patients attending hospital is important. Agreement should be reached, however, on which phase of diastolic blood pressure should be used.