Abstract:
Medical education is predominantly hospital-based and fails to emphasize primary prevention of the most prevalent diseases. Hypertension, which is asymptomatic and unknown to most hypertensive individuals, is an important risk factor for cardiovascular and renal complications. Primary prevention and early detection are the most effective approaches to avoid such complications. In this project, medical students were trained to give talks to high school students, with the following objectives; to develop social responsibility in medical students; to alert a disease-free population to the dangers of hypertension; to reinforce healthy life styles in order to avoid the development and progression of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases; to create multipliers of this knowledge; and to estimate the prevalence of hypertension by measuring blood pressure in a sample of students. Presentations focus on the concept of hypertension, its causes and consequences, and how to prevent it. Both students and teachers were highly receptive to the project. Pre- and post-questions showed that ignorance of the disease is the rule and that the learning experience was highly positive. An analysis of 542 students (mean 17 years) showed 15% with high blood pressure, predominantly in males and those with higher body mass index.
Key-words:
Medical education; Health education; Arterial hypertension
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