Anticoagulant medicines are used widely in clinical practice for both prophylaxis and acute treatment of thrombosis. They act through targeting a number of different proteins that either reduce or prevent clot formation.
They are high risk medicines that have a narrow therapeutic index and over or under anticoagulation can result in significant adverse patient outcomes.[1]
The safe and effective use of any anticoagulant medicine requires careful patient selection and vigilant clinical monitoring to minimise the risk of thrombosis as well as balance the risk of adverse bleeding.[2]
This module will outline how you can ensure the safe use of anticoagulant medicines at every transition of patient care.[2]
This module relates to the following Australian National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards:
At the end of this module participants will be able to:
