Do you all have coumadin clinics where you live?

[Vtachy1]

I hadn't heard about it until a snow bird that goes to FL every winter told me about them. They check your PT/INR and then give you orders what to do. She said it was super handy. Are these a coming trend? I should open up one of these in my town! I wonder if the docs would be for or against it, and if the docs have to refer them. How does it work??

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

We have one at my hospital. It's called the "Coagulation Clinic" and all pts being discharged on Coumadin or long term blood thinners are supposed to be followed by them.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I live in central IL and yes, we have NP-run coumadin clinics but they are contained within a medical practice. For instance, I manage coumadin on all my dialysis pts.

Its not quite as simple as taking blood and adjusting the meds. You have to know why the pt is on coumadin, what the desired range is, what is going on with the pt, what other meds/OTC/herbals they are taking. You must also have a good understanding of what to do if their INR is high/low.

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

Yes, we have them. They are run by NPs.

[Erikadawn RN]

I work in a prison and we have one there.

[L8RRN]

We have them here within the cardiology offices and a few family practices that manage multiple patients on coumadin. It is a part of the practice and not a free-standing "clinic", though. Some draw blood but the one I worked at had fingersticks (similiar to glucometers) for the INR. Some patients even got a home INR fingerstick machine and would call and self-report their INR to us to regulate.

[LuckyinKY]

The VA hospital where I live has a Coumadin clinic.

[hikernurse]

There's one here, too. It's very helpful to patients, families and staff.

[Otessa, BSN, RN]

I hadn't heard about it until a snow bird that goes to FL every winter told me about them. They check your PT/INR and then give you orders what to do. She said it was super handy. Are these a coming trend? I should open up one of these in my town! I wonder if the docs would be for or against it, and if the docs have to refer them. How does it work??

The coumadin clinics we have in our area (midwest) are lead by MDs (need ordering physicians or LIPs for coumadin orders or protocols).

The RNs follow protocol and adjust the doses per the lab values.

[NotFlo]

Yes, we have them. My dad actually utilizes the one in his town. It works great for him.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

In the UK where I lived we had coudamin/warfarin clinics and they was run by the pharmacist who would decide on warfarin dose depending on reason for warfarin and INR. Worked well and found utilised well with the patients who where more likely to go regularly because they wasn't hanging around as much waiting for results.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Wow thanks Silverdragon!

How interesting.