Originally Posted by OPCC
I work in an outpatient area and I handle the coumadin clinic for our providers. I would love to find other nurses doing the same thing and bounce questions off them.
I work in a cardiology office. We have a *lot* of coumadin patients. Our clinical staff consists of two RNs and two very experienced MOAs; between us we share coumadin management responsibilities. The other RN or I must sign off on the MOAs' advice, but there is rarely if ever a problem with it.
I had zero coumadin clinic experience when I took the job two years ago; the senior RN mentored me and it took about 6 months until I reached a comfort level and didn't need her to cosign with me. We do finger stick INR's unless the value is way off (> 8.0); then we do a draw and check it through the lab. At that point we definitely get MD orders. The docs are also fine with us consulting them with unusual fluctuations, stopping therapy for surgery, or anything nonroutine that comes up.
Feel free to bounce any questions off me; I'll do my best