Peripheral vascular resistance also decreases throughout the body. These complex mechanisms lower systemic blood pressure. A few medications used to treat hypertension work on receptor sites in the brain. These so-called centrally acting agents affect the brain's central vasomotor centers, decreasing the sympathetic outflow to the heart, kidneys, and peripheral vasculature. The resulting decrease in peripheral vascular resistance lowers both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Diuretics work on the kidneys to remove excess fluid and sodium from the blood.
Different parts of the renal microanatomy are affected by different medications. All, however, result in a decreased cardiac workload as the result of a smaller amount of blood circulating, thereby lowering blood pressure. Nursing implications Nursing intervention for hypertension focuses on patient and family education. Patients need to understand the meaning of high blood pressure, its contributing risk factors, and the damage hypertension does to the body. A communitywide approach to lowering blood pressure can reduce the risk of unrecognized hypertension for everyone.