SUMMARY
Patients presenting to emergency departments with severe hypertension deserve prompt triage to establish the presence of a hypertensive emergency or urgency. Those with hypertensive emergencies must be promptly admitted to an intensive care unit where continuous monitoring of blood pressure is available, as well as prompt therapy with parenteral antihypertensive drugs to prevent progression of target organ damage. Most patients with hypertensive urgencies can be managed on an ambulatory basis with initiation or adjustment of appropriate oral antihypertensive therapy. A key to the management of hypertensive urgencies is the assurance of appropriate follow-up care to assure continued optimal hypertension management.