Emergency or urgency? Effective management of hypertensive crises

Abstract

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 

• Understand the distinction between hypertensive emergency and urgency
• Describe the pathogenesis of hypertensive crisis and hypertensive encephalopathy
• Discuss the clinical manifestations and initial evaluation of a patient in a hypertensive crisis
• Identify the conditions associated with hypertensive emergency and urgency

PAs need to identify the patient's condition in order to select the most appropriate intervention while avoiding overaggressive treatment of the nonemergent patient.

EARN CATEGORY I CME CREDIT by reading this article and the article beginning on page 20 and successfully completing the posttest on page 50. Successful completion is defined as a cumulative score of at least 70% correct. This material has been reviewed and is approved for 1 hour of clinical Category I (Preapproved) CME credit by the AAPA. The term of approval is for 1 year from the publication date of August 2010.