The complexity of clinical Practice Guidelines often preludes their usefulness in routine practice. The most recent national guideline for hypertension requires clinicians to consider nearly 40 variables. A unique expert system has been developed that can hide the complexities of this guideline from the clinician as well as provide a user-friendly interface for the collection of data. BP values are entered by the user and checkboxes are used for the entry of risk factors, target organ damage and comorbid conditions. The system will then make recommendations as to what the appropriate therapies should be including lifestyle modifications, medications, cost information, side effects and drug interactions.

A web version of this tool is currently under development.

The expert system has been developed by Geraldine Wade, M.D. and Dean K. Sorenson, Ph.D. at the University of Utah School of Medicine, Department of Medical Informatics, Salt Lake City, Utah