Knowledge, attitudes and practices of Australian healthcare professionals related to potassium-enriched salt: a mixed-methods study

Switching from regular salt to potassium-enriched salt lowers blood pressure and cardiovascular risk, but this intervention is underutilised by healthcare professionals. We assessed Australian healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding regular salt and potassium-enriched salt for hypertension management. We used mixed-methods research including surveys to quantify KAP towards regular salt and potassium-enriched salt and semi-structured interviews to gather in-depth information about knowledge, attitudes and the barriers and opportunities for recommending potassium-enriched salt use in clinical practice. Participants were general practitioners, medical specialists and allied health professionals working in Australia and caring for individuals with hypertension. Ninety-nine participants completed the survey, and thirty-six participants completed interviews. Survey participants generally had high knowledge related to regular salt; most were aware of potassium-enriched salt (94 %), but only 49 % reported familiarity with it. Of those aware, 73 % considered it safe to use and 66 % knew of the blood pressure-lowering benefits. Only 14 % had recommended it in the previous 12 months, though most interview participants were willing to recommend it in the future. Key barriers to recommendation were limited knowledge about potassium-enriched salt, insufficient time to discuss use with patients and concerns about taste, availability and affordability. The key opportunity identified was incorporating recommendations and information about potassium-enriched salt into existing resources supporting hypertension management by clinicians. Healthcare professionals are mostly aware and supportive of recommending potassium-enriched salt but lack in-depth knowledge. Advice about using potassium-enriched salt needs incorporation into clinical education programmes and hypertension management systems.