Quote from Kaplan's Clinical Hypertension medical text: "The practitioner must take direct responsibility for the individual patient. We know of nothing more h

Quote from Kaplan's Clinical Hypertension medical text: "The practitioner must take direct responsibility for the individual patient. We know of nothing more helpful in achieving good control of an individual patient's hypertension than the home monitoring of BP. In the best of worlds, the patient could alter his or her antihypertensive regimen based on his or her home BP readings just as diabetics are allowed to alter their insulin dosage based on their home glucose readings. Such self-modification may be too much to ask, but phones, faxes, and e-mails can easily send the readings to an office assistant or practitioner who can then provide appropriate advice. For too long, practitioners have kept patients out of the loop, either too proud to give up some of their power or too suspicious of the ability of their patients to help themselves."