Margaret MacDougall1, Liu Zhaobo2

1
Funded by wellcometrust
Cardiovascular health measurement scales at our
finger-tips improving the efficiency of
clinical decision-making through a futuristic Wiki

• Margaret MacDougall1, Liu Zhaobo2
• 1. Centre for Population Health Sciences,
  University of Edinburgh Medical School
  (Margaret.MacDougall_at_ed.ac.uk)
• 2. undergraduate medical student, University of
  Edinburgh

• The principal aim of this summer vacation project
  was to use the University of Edinburgh (UoE)
  Central Wiki System to create a readily
  accessible and updatable Wiki for use by medical
  students and clinicians on an international
  scale. This Wiki should enhance efficiency in
  clinical decision making and patient risk
  assessment within a wide range of contexts
  pertaining to cardiovascular medicine and
  surgery.
•  
• This is being achieved through
• use of a comprehensive literature review and a
  survey of the perspectives of clinical
  specialists at the UoE to identify the most
  contemporary and frequently used health
  measurement scales and their relative
  effectiveness
•  
• use of a Wiki system to highlight the findings
  from the above enquiry, deficits in provision of
  suitable measurement scales and the associated
  opportunities for research in these areas
• dissemination of project output
  internationally through the Higher Education
  Academy (HEA), the Association for the study of
  Medical Education (ASME) and MedEdWorld websites
  and mailing lists, so as to encourage use of and
  contribution to the existing Wiki content by
  Health Sciences professionals.
• Cardiovascular health measure scales is a rapidly
  expanding field and challenging to research. Key
  factors in this respect are the lack of
  consistency and clarity in the presentation of
  validation procedures and the conflicting
  findings of the associated validation studies.
  There is some confusion in the literature about
  the naming of the scales. This is especially true
  for the Framingham cardiovascular scale, which in
  reality, encompasses a variety of scales,
  formulated using distinct algorithms and
  predicting risk for different endpoints. These
  scales were developed within different time
  periods and even the oldest of these are still in
  use or recommended by guidelines.

This Wiki explicitly links a wide range of
validated scales for primary prevention to the
corresponding literature for further reading.
Recommendations for future research and
comprehensive information regarding each of the
scales are also provided. It is anticipated that
the current version of the Wiki will help
clinicians make informed choices in the use of
these scales and direct them towards future
research needs.
Aim
Existing project output in response to findings
Methods
Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR) workshop
themes

• undergraduate research generating transformative
  learning

• the influence of technological changes on
  undergraduate research

Although the project has been fine-tuned to
target risk assessment scales for primary
prevention, the Wiki has also been constructed
for additional categories of cardiovascular
health measurement scales. Areas where other
interested parties should contribute to the Wiki
are identified and pointers are displayed
throughout the Wiki to encourage contributions
once the Wiki is launched internationally.
Furthermore, this Wiki is intended to serve as
a child Wiki to a much more general Health
Measurement Scales Wiki and therefore, there is a
wealth of opportunities available for student
projects in Wiki design aimed at meeting similar
needs in alternative clinical fields where health
measurements have a role to play in clinical
evaluation and decision making. This includes
such diverse areas as orthopaedic surgery,
mental health testing and diabetes-specific
quality of life assessment.
Opportunities for collaboration in Wiki design
Key findings
Recognizing the need for greater clarity in
consolidating published findings, a timeline is
provided to represent the developmental stages of
the Framingham cardiovascular risk assessment
scales so that Wiki participants will be able to
appreciate the wide variety of these scales that
is available. By means of the Wiki, an attempt
has been made to make the findings of relevant
studies much more accessible by means of an
easy-to-read table format with links to relevant
literature. This is with the intention that
future clinical researchers and practitioners
will more informatively and efficiently evaluate
the potentially overwhelming range of validation
results that are available prior to choosing the
optimal one for their needs in research or
clinical practise.