In the present study, blood pressure (BPC) measurements are performed in Primary Health Care (PHC) structures. The measurements will be performed on individuals (either patients or patient escorts) who come to PHC units. Undergraduate students of the School of Medicine of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, students of the Department of Nursing of the IHU as well as, voluntarily, collaborating health professionals in PHC units will participate in the measurements.

The involvement of sixth-year medical students

Modern medical education aims to create physicians with multiple clinical and communicational skills, along with a strong background of theoretical knowledge. The challenging clinical environment healthcare workers face in everyday practice is making medical organizations and schools re-evaluate and re-establish the teaching procedure. Historically, laboratory training, lecture-based learning, and bedside teaching are implicated in the training of medical students for both basic sciences and clinical courses. The adoption of contemporary teaching methods can contribute to the transformation of conventional medical education. Global economic crisis, infectious pandemics, and global conflicts are some of the burdens that the new era physician is called to confront. Plenty of different means have been used and proposed, aiming to develop doctors capable of facing the different challenges of practicing medicine in the 21st century. Experiential learning has been suggested as a novel teaching method and is defined as the connection of the theoretical knowledge taught in the lecture with hands-on practice in real-life circumstances. Moreover, the experiential learning procedure contributes to the development of communicational and social skills of medical students, diminishing the important deficit in these skills. The importance of experiential learning in new-age medical curricula is evident. Studies have shown that even the most used clinical skills are not performed successfully in everyday clinical practice not only by senior medical students but by healthcare professionals as well. Thus, actions both to improve the performance of basic clinical skills and patient-doctor communication are essential.

Primary healthcare (PHC) provides health education and promotion, as well as primary, secondary and tertiary prevention in patients of all age groups. Recently, focus has been shifted on the evolution of PHC, in order to be able to fulfil the goals of global adoption and sustainability, improving health related outcomes and effectively addressing evolving population needs. The importance of medical students getting acquainted to various PHC models, even from the preclinical years, has been highlighted. While PHC and general practice (GP) courses have been integrated into medical schools’ curricula, GP remains out of most students’ career choices in Greece and other countries. Numerous published studies have proposed that exposure in primary healthcare units (PHCUs) is beneficial for students and can increase students’ interest in GP. Experiential learning activities (ELAs) organized by medical schools have been widely used in PHCUs. The increased need for GPs is creating an emerging need for campaigns and actions to increase the percentage of graduates choosing GP as their medical specialty. 

Arterial hypertension (AH) remains one of the leading modifiable causes of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The global burden of AH is estimated to 1.4 billion individuals, making AH one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity of adult patients, with more than 45% of adults being undiagnosed. More than 7.5 million deaths each year are attributed to AH. While very effective therapies for AH have been developed, 40% of hypertensive individuals remain untreated. Studies reveal low levels of awareness towards AH among medical students. It is, therefore, necessary, to increase medical students’ knowledge towards AH. Moreover, due to the limited time in the clinical practice setting, the measurements of blood pressure (BP) are often omitted, and the diagnosis and control of AH is confined to fewer patients. An ELA could potentially increase medical students’ awareness towards AH and show the feasibility of implementing regular BP measurements in everyday clinical practice. None of the published studies have proposed an ELA to raise awareness of medical students towards AH. 

Qualitative analysis promotes the expression of participants’ feelings, opinions, and experiences. The different perceptions and personal experiences are expressed through open questions in the qualitative studies, allowing the researchers to understand the viewpoints of the participants deeply. This type of research does not confine the responses to already structured sentences that have been developed by the researchers, allowing the expression of partcipants’ inner thoughts. While this method provides the deeper thoughts and experiences of the respondents, a limitation is the need for a painstakingly time-consuming analysis, given that fact qualitative analysis is not feasible to be implemented in data obtained from large samples.

The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate the impact, impressions and thoughts of sixth-year medical students of the Medical School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) who participated in an ELA regarding AH during their placement in PHCU.

The procedure followed:

Figure 1. The procedure followed during BP measurements by students. BP: Blood Pressure.

A total of 44 sixth-year medical students (24 females and 20 males) participated in the study. The qualitative statistical analysis revealed five main axes: benefits for students, patients and HCS, facilitators and obstacles to action (Figure 2).

Figure 2. The main themes and branches that were produced by the qualitative analysis. HCS: Healthcare System, PHC: Primary Healthcare, BP: Blood Pressure.