Randomized Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Structured Educational Program for Patients With Essential Hypertension.

Background: Adherence to medication and lifestyle interventions are essential keys for the management of hypertension. In this respect, a structured educational program for hypertensive patients has got remarkable merits (herz.leben).

A randomized controlled clinical trial of pacemaker follow-up in clinic and by telemedical interpretation of the pacemakers' magnet mode.

We assessed a two-stage follow-up procedure for cardiac pacemakers, where in-clinic follow-ups were partly replaced by telemedical follow-ups. This was compared with the standard follow-up regime (in-clinic follow-up only). The new procedure required an electronic patient record, a telemedical follow-up unit for recording ECGs while the pacemaker was temporarily set to magnet mode, an ECG processing unit, and a reviewing and reporting unit.