Clinical decision support software for management of chronic heart failure: development and evaluation.

Objective: To develop and evaluate clinical decision support software (CDSS) to aid physicians treat patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

Methods: The CDSS was developed after discussions with a multidisciplinary panel. Evaluation was performed in three stages over a 6 month period including an editorial check, one-to-one interviews with potential users and educational meetings with general practitioners (GPs), junior doctors and medical students during which the CDSS was assessed in a cross-over design against paper guidelines.

Management of chronic heart failure due to systolic left ventricular dysfunction by cardiologist and non-cardiologist physicians.

There are now a number of guidelines outlining the diagnosis and management of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). The extent to which these guidelines are used and the effects on patient outcomes are not well known. The aim of this study was to examine the implementation of a heart failure guideline among cardiologist and non-cardiologist physicians in a university hospital setting.

Intra-arterial vasopressin in the human forearm: pharmacodynamics and the role of nitric oxide.

Background And Objectives: Diverse vascular effects have been ascribed to vasopressin, including the potential to cause vasodilation, vasoconstriction, and nitric oxide release. The objective of this study was to establish the pharmacodynamics, reproducibility, and nitric oxide dependence of the vasomotor actions of vasopressin in the forearm resistance vessels.

Methods: Blood flow in both forearms of 12 healthy men was measured with venous occlusion plethysmography.