Get your blood pressure under control with your iPad

Many of the Danes who have elevated blood pressure regularly visit the doctor to have their blood pressure checked, but more and more of them are taking the measurements at home, as the familiar surroundings provide a better picture of their blood pressure and save a visit to the doctor.

Now the results no longer need to be delivered at the general practitioner's office as they can be sent from home via an iPad, PC or smartphone. This is done with the help of an electronic tool called Sundhedsmappen.dk, which has been developed by researchers at the Research Unit for General Practice and Aarhus University.

Reduces errors in the results

The digital shortcut means that the general practitioner receives the latest results immediately and can follow the blood pressure levels directly on screen, so that the patient’s medication can be quickly adjusted or a follow-up appointment can be made.

”What is new is that we avoid all the paperwork. Normally the patient is given some paperwork together with a ­sphygmomanometer­. Once measurements have been taken over three days the completed paperwork has to be returned to the doctor’s practice, where the figures are entered manually in the medical record. The direct transfer means that we avoid errors when reading the forms and entering the information - and more precise figures mean that treatment can be more quickly tailored to each individual patient,” says Kaj Sparle Christensen from the Research Unit for General Practice and Aarhus University, who are behind the project.

Cost savings for society

Sundhedsmappen.dk is expected to be able to reach many of the Danes who would not otherwise get their blood pressure checked - either because of a busy everyday life or because illness makes it difficult for them to visit the general practitioner. It will thereby be easier to quickly detect people who could be at risk of developing diseases­ that subsequently require treatment.

So far Sundhedsmappen.dk includes tools for measuring anxiety, depression and blood pressure. Every year Danish general practitioners carry out 265,000 psychometric tests that measure the patient’s mental condition, and 271,000 measurements of blood pressure in the home are followed up by visits to the general practice.

For society in general there can be significant cost savings if more tests and measurements are carried out at home - and the idea is also that Sundhedsmappen.dk will in future be expanded with tools to monitor stress conditions, diabetes and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Sundhedsmappen.dk was launched as a pilot project a few months ago and is now being presented for general practitioners at their annual conference in Bella Center in Copenhagen between 11-15 November, 2013.

Facts about Sundhedsmappen.dk

• Developed as part of the Mental Health in Primary Care research project at Aarhus University.
• It was originally designed to support treatment of anxiety and depression, but new functions are constantly under development.
• Based on a close collaboration between patient and general practitioner: The patient registers his or her own symptoms or measurements and the GP receives the information electronically.
• This ensures that patients under treatment receive optimal medication and the correct doses.
• Almost 80 general practices and 280,000 patients have already registered for Sundhedsmappen.dk.

Further information

General Practitioner, Senior Researcher, PhD Kaj Sparle Christensen
Aarhus University, Department of Public Health and Research Unit for General Practice
Direct tel: +45 2217 4325
kasc@alm.au.dk

Project Manager, PhD student Marie Mortensen
Aarhus University, Department of Public Health and Research Unit for General Practice
Direct tel: +45 8716 7923
mm@dce.au.dk