PMID- 17519463
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20070718
LR  - 20190101
IS  - 1079-2082 (Print)
IS  - 1079-2082 (Linking)
VI  - 64
IP  - 11
DP  - 2007 Jun 1
TI  - Survey of hospitals for guidelines, policies, and protocols for anticoagulants.
PG  - 1203-8
AB  - PURPOSE: A survey of community hospitals that are part of a national group 
      purchasing organization (GPO) was conducted to assess the formulary status of 
      currently available anticoagulants, assess the current status of anticoagulant 
      prescribing guidelines and the existing scope of such guidelines, and identify 
      perceptions about the appropriateness of the use of anticoagulants in community 
      hospitals in the United States. METHODS: A Web-based survey of acute care 
      hospitals that were members of a leading health care resource management and GPO 
      was conducted. The survey was sent to 224 hospitals. RESULTS: Of 224 hospitals, 
      127 participated in the survey, a response rate of 59.6%. Warfarin, 
      unfractionated heparin (UFH), and enoxaparin were the anticoagulants most 
      commonly included (>80%) on the hospitals' drug formularies. Guidelines relating 
      to the use of UFH and low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) existed in 
      approximately 87.4% and 55.1% of responding hospitals, respectively, followed by 
      warfarin and direct thrombin inhibitors (DTIs) (approximately 44.1% and 30.7%, 
      respectively). Among hospitals without guidelines, 78.2%, 72.1%, 65.4%, 50.0%, 
      and 41.4% reported that such guidelines would be useful if they included LMWHs, 
      warfarin, DTIs, UFH, and fondaparinux, respectively. Guidelines for prophylaxis 
      of venous thromboembolism (VTE), appropriate drug selection, and dosing for VTE 
      prophylaxis and treatment existed in 59.8%, 53.5%, and 43.3% of the hospitals, 
      respectively. CONCLUSION: The study found that a sizable percentage of the 
      responding community hospitals did not have guidelines, protocols, or policies 
      related to the use of anticoagulants. Further, those hospitals without such 
      guidelines commonly reported a need for clinical practice guidelines.
FAU - Vats, Vikrant
AU  - Vats V
AD  - Center for Pharmacoeconomic Research, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois 
      at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
FAU - Nutescu, Edith A
AU  - Nutescu EA
FAU - Theobald, John C
AU  - Theobald JC
FAU - Wojtynek, Jeffrey E
AU  - Wojtynek JE
FAU - Schumock, Glen T
AU  - Schumock GT
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - England
TA  - Am J Health Syst Pharm
JT  - American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the 
      American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
JID - 9503023
RN  - 0 (Anticoagulants)
SB  - IM
MH  - Anticoagulants/*therapeutic use
MH  - Coronary Disease/drug therapy
MH  - Data Collection
MH  - Drug Utilization Review
MH  - Formularies, Hospital as Topic
MH  - Group Purchasing
MH  - Health Care Surveys
MH  - Hospitals, Community/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Humans
MH  - Organizational Policy
MH  - Pharmacy Service, Hospital/*organization & administration/*standards/statistics & 
      numerical data
MH  - Practice Guidelines as Topic
MH  - Thromboembolism/*drug therapy
EDAT- 2007/05/24 09:00
MHDA- 2007/07/19 09:00
CRDT- 2007/05/24 09:00
PHST- 2007/05/24 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2007/07/19 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2007/05/24 09:00 [entrez]
AID - 64/11/1203 [pii]
AID - 10.2146/ajhp060264 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2007 Jun 1;64(11):1203-8. doi: 10.2146/ajhp060264.