“Main causes of heart failure and hypertension complications (such as stroke and kidney disease)”
“Ask patients to measure their blood pressure at home regularly to check if it stays in the target range”
“The human body has its own self-regulation system”
Understanding the Audience
According to the type of audience, I adjusted my sharing and pointed out one key point: most patients with heart failure are mainly cared for by cardiologists. Only those with mild or early symptoms, whose heart function is not yet seriously reduced, may be found in family medicine clinics. For severe heart failure, care from a cardiologist is still the best choice.
However, as family medicine doctors, we must clearly know what kinds of heart failure medicines can help our patients. Only by understanding this can we offer useful advice and support before referral or during the first evaluation.
The Core Battlefield
The main battlefield for family medicine is to prevent and control chronic diseases that can cause heart failure, such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol. Among these, blood pressure control is the most important.
In daily practice, we often see patients whose blood pressure has not reached the target for a long time. This is one of the key causes of heart failure and complications like stroke and kidney disease. If we can detect problems early and intervene early, we can greatly reduce the risk of worsening disease.
When Blood Pressure Stays High
A common challenge is that even when a patient is already taking five or more blood pressure drugs, their blood pressure is still not controlled.
There are many reasons for this, and also many possible solutions. Besides checking if the patient is taking the medicine correctly and if the drug combination is suitable, the most important thing is to ask the patient to measure blood pressure regularly at home to confirm if home readings stay within the normal range.
However, getting patients to do this regularly is often the hardest part — especially for those who do not take disease management seriously.
Treatment Options
Sometimes, we kindly offer self-paid treatment options to patients. Although this increases their financial burden, it can greatly reduce the risk of future complications and irreversible organ damage.
In real clinical practice, there are indeed patients who are willing to pay more if they can get better results. Therefore, good explanation and communication are very important.
In the end, we must always consider the patient’s financial situation and respect their personal choice to find the most suitable and acceptable treatment plan.
Q&A Session
During the Q&A session, a doctor asked:
“Do different patient groups have different responses in blood pressure reduction? Is low blood pressure a common side effect?”
The speaker replied by adding clinical ideas and experiences from cardiologists, and used the example of blood sugar–lowering drugs to explain:
The human body has a self-regulation system — it usually does not let blood sugar fall too low, and in the same way, blood pressure will not easily drop to a dangerous level.
Finally, I would like to thank my former supervisor, Director Lin, for hosting and introducing me, and for his past guidance and help. I also look forward to our next exchange and sharing.
