[A computerized support system for the ambulatory treatment of patients with arterial hypertension]

AGAPE (Computer-based Outpatients' Clinic Programme) is a programme for IBM-compatible microcomputers realised by physicians for the management of hypertensive patients. The programme is planned to make the operators' work complete and expeditious while, at the same time, respecting the standard formulation of the clinical approach to the patient. The collection, organisation, recording and communication of data are handled on line by the programme under the operator's control. Special attention has been given to the control of the quality of the data collected as well as to their easy use for clinical, research and statistical purposes. This programme was used for 52 months in a hypertension clinic where physicians and nurses work jointly. Up to April 1989, 1924 new patient visits and 10,639 control visits together with 3,375 groups of lab tests were inserted. The mean training time for new operators was 3.2 hours; the mean data insertion time was 12.5 minutes for the first visit, 3 minutes for the subsequent visits and 2.5 minutes for lab tests. The drop-outs, evaluated at one-year follow-up on each 250 patients before and after the introduction of the computerized system, were 84/250 and 64/250 respectively (p less than 0.05), with a trend to wards the better control of hypertension (diastolic blood pressure less than 90 mmHg, 128/250 vs 143/250, n.s.).