Internet-based care aids blood pressure control

More and more attention is being given to electronic monitoring devices, and blood pressure is right at the top of the line. When you stop and think about it, how often do you see your physician and have your blood pressure checked? Perhaps once a year or so, and there are devices in drug stores where you can sit down and take your blood pressure as well, those have been around for years, but now there’s another alternative to upload to the Internet to report back to your physician. You may have seen your doctor 3 months ago, but for some reason an increase in pressure has taken place, so this would send out a “red” alert not only to yourself, but also notify your physician so between the 2, it might help get a visit scheduled to address and catch issues before they have a chance to get worse.

Pharmacists are also getting involved in the process and it appears to be having some success. BD

Our demographic was middle-aged, working people for whom Web-based care is particularly convenient, particularly for reporting BP numbers and simple or structured communications," Green told Reuters Health. The clinical trial included 778 patients with uncontrolled high blood pressure and Internet access. They were randomly assigned to usual care, or to home BP monitoring and Web services training, or to home monitoring, Web services training, and management by a pharmacist delivered through Internet communications. The Web services permitted patients to email their doctors, refill prescriptions, request appointments, get test results, and look up health information.

Internet-based care aids blood pressure control - Yahoo! News