These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Barriers to patient self-testing of prothrombin time: national survey of anticoagulation practitioners.
    Author: Wittkowsky AK, Sekreta CM, Nutescu EA, Ansell J.
    Journal: Pharmacotherapy; 2005 Feb; 25(2):265-9. PubMed ID: 15767240.
    Abstract:
    Oral anticoagulation with warfarin requires routine monitoring of prothrombin time, expressed as the international normalized ratio (INR). Patient self-testing for INR is common in Europe but not in the United States. In order to determine the frequency of INR self-testing among patients whose anticoagulant therapy is managed in U.S. anticoagulation clinics, to describe the processes that support this self-testing, and to identify the barriers as experienced by anticoagulation clinic providers, a three-part survey was mailed to 538 anticoagulation specialists in the United States. The response rate was 43.7%. Policies and procedures of almost 60% of anticoagulation clinics prohibited INR self-testing for enrolled patients. In addition, less than 1% of patients being managed by U.S. anticoagulation clinics use self-testing to obtain INR results. Primary barriers were the cost of self-testing instruments (78.7% of respondents), cost of reagent cartridges (60.4%), and fear that self-testing might lead to unintended self-management (35.7%). Over 75% of respondents believed that some reimbursement for the cost of self-testing devices and supplies would increase the likelihood that anticoagulation clinics would recommend INR self-testing.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]