Dietetics at work in the workplace: academia and industry cooperate in a blood pressure program.

Here is one approach to the challenge of preparing dietetic students for a rapidly changing health care system. Hypertension screening and control are the focus of a cooperative project conducted at the Saginaw-Detroit plants of General Motors Corporation by students of the Medical Dietetics Program at Wayne State University, Detroit. The project reflects implementation, over a 3-year period, of the General Motors Blood Pressure Program. A model is presented for involving students in a health-oriented program at a work site. Effectiveness of student follow-up and counseling is demonstrated in a research component involving noncompliant hypertensive employees. Outcomes of cooperative efforts include: (a) development of guidelines for management of a hypertension monitoring program involving students, (b) support for an industrial medical staff in mounting a new program, (c) extension of faculty capabilities through plant medical staff, (d) baseline data for calculating cost-benefit of a monitoring program, and (e) achievement of superior blood pressure control in comparison with other industrial programs.