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Audit of community‐based anticoagulant monitoring in patients with thromboembolic disease: is frequent testing necessary?
Author(s) -
Young L.,
Ockelford P.,
Harper P.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2004.00690.x
Subject(s) - medicine , audit , anticoagulant , anticoagulant therapy , oral anticoagulant , thromboembolic disease , intensive care medicine , emergency medicine , warfarin , thrombosis , atrial fibrillation , accounting , business
Oral anticoagulant monitoring is managed by general practitioners in Auckland. An audit of this service in 452 patients demonstrated that anticoagulant control was in line with recommended international guidelines, with 58.3% of international normalized ratio (INR) measurements in the therapeutic range. However, the frequency of testing was high, with the majority of patients (68%), including those on long‐term treatment, having INR measurements at weekly intervals. We question the need for such frequent INR testing. (Intern Med J 2004; 34: 639−641)