Abstract
The number of patients referred to hospital clinics for monitoring of oral anticoagulation continues to rise rapidly. Introduction of computer programs for the control of oral anticoagulation improves the quality of anticoagulant control in hospital clinics. This approach has now been extended to include patients managed in general practice. Results confirm that the quality of anticoagulation can also be improved in these patients. A standard approach to anticoagulation for hospital and community based patients has also facilitated the transfer of patients on warfarin from the hospital anticoagulant clinics to the community with no deterioration in the quality of anticoagulant control. As a result, the workload in the hospital anticoagulant clinic has fallen for the first time.
Full text
PDFSelected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Kent L., Galloway M. J. Use of computers in anticoagulant clinics. J Clin Pathol. 1992 Jun;45(6):549–549. doi: 10.1136/jcp.45.6.549-a. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kubie A., James A. H., Timms J., Britt R. P. Experience with a computer-assisted anticoagulant clinic. Clin Lab Haematol. 1989;11(4):385–391. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2257.1989.tb00237.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lowe G. D. Antithrombotic treatment and atrial fibrillation. BMJ. 1992 Dec 12;305(6867):1445–1446. doi: 10.1136/bmj.305.6867.1445. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pell J. P., McIver B., Stuart P., Malone D. N., Alcock J. Comparison of anticoagulant control among patients attending general practice and a hospital anticoagulant clinic. Br J Gen Pract. 1993 Apr;43(369):152–154. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ryan P. J., Gilbert M., Rose P. E. Computer control of anticoagulant dose for therapeutic management. BMJ. 1989 Nov 11;299(6709):1207–1209. doi: 10.1136/bmj.299.6709.1207. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]