dcmh

Anticoagulation Clinic

The Anticoagulation Clinic (ACC) at Decatur County Memorial Hospital is a physician-directed, pharmacist-managed service. All pharmacists working in the clinic have received specialized training and hold certifications in anticoagulation therapy management.

The DCMH Anticoagulation Clinic specializes in advanced warfarin (Coumadin) management using dose monitoring, which involves face-to-face contact, rather than a telephone call, for more responsive care.

Participation in the ACC is voluntary. Patients are free to choose between monitoring in the clinic or continuing monitoring with their physician. An advantage of our Anticoagulation Clinic is that blood is obtained from a simple finger stick rather than a regular blood draw. Testing is finished in seconds; you’ll know your INR results before leaving the clinic. Our pharmacists also use physician-approved protocols to adjust doses immediately, if necessary. This means you will  know what dosage to take before leaving the clinic – no more waiting hours or days after your visit to know if your dosage needs to be changed. This point-of-care program reduces the risk of adverse events with warfarin and thus increases your safety.

What is Anticoagulation Therapy?

Simply put, Anticoagulation Therapy is the use of medications to reduce the risk of blood clots. Inpatient education and the outpatient Anticoagulation Clinic (ACC) focus on the use of the oral medication Coumadin (also known as warfarin), which helps prevent harmful blood clots from forming and lengthens the time it normally takes for your blood to clot (measured as INR, your international normalized ratio). Due to certain conditions, such as:

Atrial Fibrillation (AF, AFib)
Mechanical Heart Valves
Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
Pulmonary Embolism (PE)

Many patients require the use of an anticoagulant, to prevent repeated complications.

To join our anticoagulation program:

  1. Ask your physician.
  2. If appropriate, your physician will need to provide a referral to our clinic. Feel free to print the Physician Referral Form and take it with you to your office visit to make it easier for the Physician to complete that referral.
  3. A Pharmacist from the clinic will contact you to set up an appointment once we receive the referral from the Physician.

For more information, please call 812-663-1152 and ask to speak with a Pharmacist.