Community Health Workers in the Emergency Department-Can they Help with Chronic Hypertension Care

Abstract

Purpose of review: To review community health worker (CHW) interventions tailored for hypertension management and to determine if the emergency department (ED) population would benefit from such interventions.

Recent findings: When working with patients who have one or more chronic diseases, CHW interventions have been very successful in improving health outcomes and are cost-effective. CHWs use a variety of techniques to address social determinants that patients may face that effect how they manage their chronic disease(s). Current CHW interventions in the ED have targeted the "super-user" population. CHW-based interventions help address social determinants of patients in a variety of settings, especially in the ED where the physicians have limited resources and time. There is limited information about how CHWs can improve community health outcomes outside of the ED "super-user" population. Future research needs to determine if creating a data-driven CHW intervention for the ED would be effective.

Keywords: Chronic disease; Community health workers; Emergency medicine; Hypertension.