[Knowledge and practices of hypertension in nursing staff of the Hospital Gabriel Touré and Point G].

Objective: This work aimed to study the quality of diagnosis and management of high blood pressure (HBP) by the practitioners of the Gabriel TOURÉ and point G teaching hospitals of Bamako.

Materials And Methods: It was a descriptive and analytical, cross-sectional study during the study period from 1st March 2009 to 28 February 2010. It included all physicians and paramedics of the teaching hospital of the Point G and Gabriel TOURÉ in Bamako.

Results: A total of 283 practitioners (physicians and the paramedics) from both teaching hospitals have accepted our questionnaire, including 133 doctors and 185 paramedics. CHU Gabriel TOURÉ accounted for 55.1%, the majority came from the department of cardiology with 18.4%. Doctors accounted for the largest square with 47.0%. The majority of our practitioners (59%) say it takes at least one session during three medical consultations to diagnose the HBP. Only 29,60% define the HBP from 140/90 mm Hg. With a blood pressure goal of 58, 30% and 57.20% of practitioners claimed to retain 140/90 mm Hg, respectively for the diabetic and the renal-insufficient patients. A considerable number of our practitioners (27.9%) still used in pregnant women the triplet diuretic/IEC/diet without salt. The information of patients on some important aspects of the pathology prior to any therapeutic strategy had been conducted in 63.6.

Conclusion: The high blood pressure must be a major concern for medical and paramedical staff today.