By Kate Rauch
For the millions of heart patients taking warfarin, an anticoagulant drug used to prevent dangerous blood clots, dosing is a time-consuming hassle. Too little won’t work; too much can be dangerous.
Frequent visits with doctors, nurses and phlebotomists are required to ensure safety with the potent but effective drug as it interacts with the body’s constantly changing blood chemistry.
[The consultant] helped me overcome a knowledge gap that made it difficult for me to test my project in a hospital setting.Raman Khanna, MD, assistant professor at the UCSF School of Medicine
To help address this challenge, Raman Khanna, MD, assistant professor at the UCSF School of Medicine, wanted to see if an easily used computerized data tool could take some of the labor out of warfarin management.
Using a mathematical formula, Khanna developed a computer program that tracks individual patients on a calendar and provides alerts when a lab test is due to ensure the patient’s blood is a safe consistency.
Regular blood tests are still needed, but the program reduces the time nurses and doctors spend examining patient data, making calculations, and consulting each other.
Read more at UCSF.edu