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Establishing A Coumadin Clinic In A Rural Family Medicine Practice, Kathleen E. Zeledon

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Background. Coumadin is the most commonly prescribed oral anticoagulant worldwide and is safe and effective in the prevention and treatment of stroke and venous thromboembolism (Stoudenmire, DeRemer, & Elewa, 2014). Coumadin is dangerous when poorly managed due to high risk for bleeding and mortality. It is best managed using evidenced-based models of care such as point-of-care (POC) International Normalized Ratio (INR) testing (Garcia et al., 2008; Harrison, Shaw, & Harrison, 2015; Rossiter, Soor, Telner, Aliarzadeh, & Lake, 2013). Purpose. Establish a Coumadin Clinic in a rural family medicine practice with POC INR testing to improve anticoagulant management. Methods …