Collaboration in high blood pressure control: among professionals and with the patient. Coordinating Committee of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program.

Because many different settings for the delivery of health care exist and because most patients encounter more than one type of health care professional, continuing dialogue is needed among individual professionals. Because of the vital roles that patients play, they must be included in this dialogue. All professionals share responsibility for identifying previously undetected and inadequately controlled hypertensive patients and for assisting those under satisfactory control to maintain their achievement. All health care professionals also have the potential to increase cooperation and coordination of activities to control high blood pressure. Two critical ingredients for successful collaboration are the use of existing networks and resources and the initiation of new ones. At the local, state, and national levels, professionals can increase their knowledge of and gain mutual respect for each other's competence. To that end we recommend wider dissemination of information about effective collaborative efforts and more detailed, well-documented descriptions of the roles and competencies of individual providers. We encourage practice efforts to implement and evaluate these suggestions. We call upon individual members of this Committee and their organizations to promote and support policy and programmatic activities that will increase meaningful collaboration among individual professionals and with patients.