In 1991, Richard O’Reilly of the Los Angeles Times featured a new, "professional-quality" computerized blood pressure monitoring system in his column, "Computer File." This system, called the DynaPulse, "is considerably more sophisticated than the typical $50 home blood pressure testing device," O’Reilly reported. The DynaPulse is the key product of San Diego-based company Pulse Metric Inc. (PMI), who aim to provide detailed and accurate blood pressure measurements through this user-friendly and affordable system. When installed in a PC or Macintosh, the DynaPulse allows users to measure, chart, save, and print out results for further consultation. In particular, the print-outs and saved measurements provide an invaluable source of information for doctors treating the users. Over the past years, the success of the DynaPulse system in aiding participants of on-going hypertension management programs bespeaks the advantages of the DynaPulse at all levels, from specialized care to daily home usage.

Two DynaPulse users, who informed PMI of their experiences, demonstrate the beneficial results made possible by PMI’s technology. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is one of the most easily noted symptoms of a potential heart attack; the DynaPulse, with its ability to measure blood pressure, map waveform patterns (the patterns of heart beats), and graph data over time, allowed Tony Cowan of Los Angeles, CA, and Edward Molin of Irving, TX to anticipate possible heart failure and receive proper treatment before the situation grew more life-threatening. Both Cowan and Molin contacted PMI after their heart attacks and described their individual cases.

Cowan purchased a DynaPulse system in April 1993; that month, he began tracking his blood pressure, saving data, and keeping records of his circumstances. In his notes, which the program allows users to add to any measurement, Cowan detailed his general state of health, exercise habits, and medications. In December, Cowan’s measurements began to reflect a slight increase in his blood pressure, yet his heart beat waveform remained regular. (An irregular heart waveform, arrhythmia, is another symptom of potential heart attacks. Electrocardiograph (ECG) uses electrical charge signals of the heart to recognize arrhythmia, yet in Cowan’s case, there was no irregularity, and therefore, an ECG would not have picked up his deteriorating condition.) On 11 December 1993, Cowan’s blood pressure skyrocketed and, on 12 December, he underwent cardiac bypass surgery at a local hospital. The measurements taken on the DynaPulse system assisted Cowan and his physicians before and after the surgery; using the charts of his blood pressure measurements, Cowan followed his blood pressure trends and quickly became aware of changes.

Molin relied upon the heart beat waveform graphs, in addition to the numbers. In July 1997, Molin experienced heartburn that would not dissipate even with treatment. He used his DynaPulse to take a reading; the results convinced him to head straight for the hospital. The waveform graph of his reading was completely erratic and irregular, thus signifying an arrhythmia. Understanding the potential threat of an arrhythmia, Molin went to the hospital, where he suffered a major heart attack and underwent triple bypass surgery. In Molin’s situation, an ECG may have also picked up signs of the heart attack; however, ECG’s are normally only administered at a clinic or doctor’s office, whereas the DynaPulse reading results provided Molin with enough information, while still at home, to know that he was potentially in serious danger.

The successful and informative combination of blood pressure measurements (which includes systolic, diastolic, and pulse) and heart beats waveform graphs with each reading on the DynaPulse results in the ability for patients, as well as doctors, to fully understand, collect data, and enhance hypertension treatment. In addition to home users, over 1000 pharmacists in North America have recently implemented the DynaPulse system into their pharmacies, thereby advancing the recent trend towards pharmacy patient care. The cover story of American Druggist in May 1998 features one pharmacist, Brian Jensen, who started using the DynaPulse as a means of tracking the progress of his customers on hypertension medication.

Jensen, co-owner of The Medicine Shoppe and Lakeshore Apothacare in Two Rivers, WI, offers a pharmacy-level hypertension care program for his customers: they come for regular DynaPulse measurements, and he, in turn, maintains their records using the DynaPulse software (which, in the Clinical edition, can keep files on unlimited numbers of patients). The results, from the day-to-day numerical measurements created over time, are then used to determine the relative success of a customer’s current treatment program and decide on any recommended changes. Jensen runs a disease management program based out of his pharmacy that works alongside programs established by physicians. Jensen stressed the necessity of maintaining relationships with the customers’ physicians; he does not intend to replace visits to the physician, only increase the patient’s understanding of his/her health situation and assist the physician with quality data.

By keeping in close contact with physicians, Jensen has redefined the pharmacist’s role in health care and extended the value of pharmacy patient care. The importance of more and better information at an accessible location (e.g., the local pharmacy) has influenced even major health insurance companies, whom Jensen successfully bills for a portion of his program costs. With the DynaPulse, Jensen provides his customers a service previously non-existent—they receive comprehensive blood pressure analysis and the advice of a practiced pharmacist in regard to certain medication and treatment procedures. Additionally, physicians have now come to rely upon Jensen’s data as a means of furthering and bettering a patient’s hypertension management program.

The DynaPulse system raises the expectations and results of hypertension treatment by increasing the range of information provided by a blood pressure monitoring system. Users, in receiving both blood pressure figures and a visual representation of heart beat waveforms, are now more aware of changes and can report these changes to their physicians. The DynaPulse software uses the computer as a means of broadening one’s understanding of hypertension and providing concrete data to keep users up-to-date on their health status. Heart disease, considered the "number one killer in America," has no cure; Pulse Metric, Inc., through the creation and development of the DynaPulse system, extends our ability to predict and detect possible life-threatening health problems.