Results of Pharmaceutical care on patients taking warfarin

Abstract

     Objective: To study the effects of pharmaceutical care on INR levels, knowledge regarding drug use, and drug related problems; DRPs at the warfarin clinic Sirindhorn Hospital. Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental research collecting that data prospectively from 47 patients continuing to receive services at least 4 times after receiving pharmaceutical care from the warfarin clinic Results: Frequencies of INR within therapeutic range post-counseling (53.2%) were significantly higher than pre-counseling (21.3%), P = 0.03. Knowledge score on warfarin was increased significantly after counseling from 5.11 ± 1.71 to 5.62 ± 1.52, P< 0.024. Among the 33 cases of warfarin found Drug related problem: DRP, the most common problems were new-change in medicine, herb, diet (48.5 %) and non-compliance (33.07 %). Among the 13 cases of warfarin found of adverse drug reactions associated with Warfarin, bleeding occurred 13 times (100%) and no thromboembolic events was found. The most common symptoms were bruising (84.6%) and scurvy (15.4%), no major bleeding events was found. Conclusion Pharmaceutical care improved knowledge on drug use and INR within the target range after counseling were significantly.