APPLICATION OF A STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE AS AN ORGANIZATIONAL TOOL FOR DIAGNOSIS AND CONTINUITY OF CARE IN SYSTEMIC ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION - AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Hypertension is the number one cause of death worldwide, however, this occurrence can be prevented if proper follow-up is performed. One way to improve the accuracy of follow-ups is through tools that enable constant update and monitoring of hypertensive patients. Therefore, the objective of this study reflects on the application of a standard operating procedure that allows such actions to be performed ensuring that providing care needs to be continuous and the data has to be updated in order to have a better treatment plan for each patient enrolled in the Basic Health Unit. Thus, this article is based on an integrative review on tools for continuity of care for hypertensive patients. In this way, 95 articles were selected within the theme, and after applying the exclusion and inclusion criteria, only 20 were analyzed. The studies were published in journals with high to medium impact factors, recognizing the degree of relevance of the theme studied. One of the major issues currently existing for the effective monitoring of hypertensive patients is the lack of accurate tools that have practical application and that allow the primary care team to effectively monitor patients registered in their territory. Thus, the literature review supported this study to direct the understanding about problems inherent to hypertension in primary health care, supporting the argument and allowing  new ways to monitor hypertensive patients so that future problems due to this chronic disease can be prevented. 