Welcome to  Educational
Trust
The need for a Website
The diagnosis and management of hypertension is dependent on accurate
measurement of blood pressure - if the measuring device (sphygmomanometer)
produces inaccurate figures, it follows that incorrect management
decisions will be made.
It follows, therefore, that the consumer, whether medical or lay,
should be able to obtain information on the accuracy of a device.
However, the majority of devices on the market have not been evaluated
independently for accuracy.
In an effort to provide this information papers have been published
in the medical literature from time to time, but such surveys have
the disadvantage of being obtainable only by journal subscribers,
and the information soon becomes outdated in that this forum cannot
keep pace with the availability of new devices.
This website was founded to overcome these difficulties by making
up-to-date evidence-based information available on the Internet
to consumers and the device manufacturing industry. It is hoped
that by doing so, blood pressure measurement will become more accurate,
resulting in improved management and benefit to many millions of
patients at risk from heart attack and stroke. It is anticipated
that this portal will be used to facilitate the speedy announcement
of validation results and consumer information on blood pressure
measuring devices.
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Statistics
January 2008:
18 new devices added to the Device Index
11 new validations added to existing devices and
35 papers added to the Library in total.
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The following fundamental steps were put in place to
ensure the integrity and independence of the website:
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The dabl® Educational Trust Limited was
established by William J. Rickard and Prof Eoin O'Brien in 2003 to
oversee the website as a not-for-profit educational venture
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An Advisory Board was
appointed consisting of international experts in blood pressure measurement,
who could be called upon to advise on the structure and content of
the website and to ensure its independence
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Staff have been trained to up-date the website with
evidence-based information on blood pressure measurement
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Foundation sponsorship was provided by dabl® Ltd who is the leading provider of disease management systems and research tools for the prevention and management of Stroke, Heart Attack, High Blood Pressure, Anticoagulation and a range of other Cardiovascular conditions. For high blood pressure, dabl®ABPM is the only system in the world which links to a range of validated blood pressure monitors and automatically provides an interpreted one page blood pressure report for the medical team and the patient.
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On-going sponsorship is being provided by a number
of manufacturers committed to enhancing
knowledge and education in hypertension.
William J Rickard, Managing Director,
dabl®Educational Trust Limited |
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