Joint National Committee JNC

National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004, The seventh report of the Joint National Committee [JNC 7] on prevention, detection, evaluation, and treatment of high blood pressure. NIH Publication No. 04-5230. 

In addition to evidence of regional variahon, healfh services research had demonstrated decreased rates of adherence fo accepted evidence-based therapeutic guidelines. Despite widely known professional guidelines (i.e., sixfh report of the Joint National Committee, JNC-VI), medical consensus on the health benefits of blood pressure confrol, and availability of effective mediations, blood pressure is poorly controlled in the U.S. Data from a nahonal research study found fhaf only 68% of pafienfs with hypertension are aware of fheir condition, and of those treated, only 27% have their blood pressures controlled. 

The pharmacology of diuretics is described later in a separate section. Both thiazide and loop diuretics are commonly used in the management of HTN. For the initial drug management of mild-to-moderate hypertension, the Joint National Committee (JNC) report VI recommends either a beta blocker or a thiazide diuretic as the drugs of first choice. 

James PA, Oparil S, Carter BL, Cushman WC, Dennison-Himmelfarb C, Handler J, et al. 2014 evidence-based guideline for the management of high blood pressure in adults report from the panel members appointed to the eighth joint national committee (JNC 8). JAMA 2014 311 507-20. 

Recent consensus committees, including the Sixth Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC VI) and the World Health Organization-International Society of Hypertension (WHO-ISH) Guidelines Subcommittee, have modified traditional treatment recommendations in several important ways. 

JNC 7 Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure... 

NHLBl, The seventh report of the joint national committee on the prevention, detection, evaluation and treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC VII). Available at http //www.nhlbi.nih.gov/ guidelines/hypertension/ last accessed March 4, 2007. 

If pharmacists were providing primary care for hypertensive patients and wanted to compare the results of an intervention, they should first provide interventions based upon established therapeutic guidelines for treating hypertension such as those outlined by the Fifth Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of Hypertension (JNC-V). With each patient encounter, they would collect the data in Appendix 2. These two procedures would ensure that the pharmacist is providing an appropriate process of care. 

FIGURE 15-4. Treatment (NTG = nitroglycerin NCEP = National Cholesterol Education Program JNC = Joint National Committee AS = aortic stenosis). 

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