Warfarin research to improve safety

The project, a partnership between the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the Universities of Tasmania, Sydney, South Australia and Wollongong, will trial medicine management services designed to assist high risk patients effectively administer the drug.

Warfarin is a widely prescribed anticoagulant medicine used to treat blood clots and prevent stroke. However, it requires very close monitoring and is the medicine most commonly implicated in major side effects.

The time of highest risk associated with warfarin therapy is after patients are discharged from hospital, especially after being commenced on the drug.

This new research aims to refine and further trial an improved model of care for patients among the 200,000 already taking warfarin in Australia.

“This project has the potential to greatly improve a patient’s quality of life and reduce the adverse health effects associated with their medical condition and its subsequent treatment,” said Harry Zafer, acting national president of the Guild.

“We want to examine how community pharmacists, as health care professionals, can play a role in assisting patients with the management of their warfarin,” Mr Zafer said.

Previous research has established that a suitably trained pharmacist visiting patients at home following discharge from hospital can significantly reduce the occurrence of major side effects.

The project aims to develop a model for therapy management involving community pharmacists in partnership with other health professionals, thereby offering benefits to both patient quality of life and cost savings to the health care system.

“We know that a number of patients using warfarin are readmitted into hospital very soon after discharge. This is usually due to their medicine not being managed optimally,” Mr Zafer added.