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such surveys have the disadvantage of being obtainable only by journal subscribers, and the information soon becomes outdated in that this forum cannot keep pace with the availability of new devices.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.

How the website was established

The following fundamental steps were put in place to ensure the integrity and independence of the website:

1. The dabl^® Educational Trust Limited was established in 2003 to oversee the website as a not-for-profit educational venture

2. 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

3. Staff have been trained to up-date the website with evidence-based information on blood pressure measurement

4. 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.

5. 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