Interdisciplinary inpatient warfarin education program

Abstract

An educational program on warafarin counseling for inpatients of a 200--bed community hospital which uses both pharmacy and nursing personnel is described. Following a physician's request for the educational service, a registered nurse arranged for the patient to view a slide presentation of anticoagultants and provided a booklet designed to reinforce the learning objectives for the warfarin education program. After the patient viewed the film and read the booklet, a pharmacist or nurse made a follow-up visit to answer questions and reinforce the objectives. The checklist of learning objectives was completed by the pharmacist or nurse and remained in the patient's chart as a permanent record of medication counseling. Forty-five request for warfarin patient education were received during the program's first six months of operation. The pharmacist spent an average of 30 minutes with each patient; the nurse spent an average of 15 to 20 minutes with each patient. The average time required of nursing and pharmacy service to provide the program was one and two hours per week, respectively. The warfarin education program provides an important patient service with a reasonable expenditure of time by pharmacy and nursing personnel.