Anticoagulant therapy with warfarin is essential for the prevention of strokes and other thromboembolic events; however, use of this therapy can be associated with an increased risk of serious bleeding. In a previous AHRQ-funded study, we have demonstrated that the prevalence of conditions for which warfarin is indicated is high among frail elderly nursing home residents, use of warfarin in this setting is very common, and the quality and safety with which warfarin is used is far from optimal. The research described in this application is consistent with AHRQ's stated priorities for FY2006 (NOT-HS-06-032). The premise underlying the proposed intervention study is that errors in prescribing and monitoring warfarin for nursing home residents are related to problems in the system of care; the proposed intervention addresses a critical weakness in the system of care: poor information flow. We propose a low technology intervention for improving the quality and safety of anticoagulant therapy with warfarin in the nursing home setting. The intervention focuses on maximizing the effectiveness of communication between the nursing staff and physicians of nursing home residents on warfarin. The intervention will build on an established approach for situation briefing drawn from the U.S.armed forces: SBAR - an acronym standing for Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation. We will test the effectiveness of this approach through a matched, cluster- randomized trial, with randomization at the level of the nursing home. Our study has the following specific aims: (1) to determine whether a nursing home warfarin management protocol emphasizing facilitated communication to physicians will improve the quality of anticoagulation management, which will beassessed using widely accepted quality measures; (2) to determine whether the intervention will lower the rates of adverse events (bleeds and thromboembolic events) among warfarin-treatedresidents of intervention group nursing homes compared to control nursing homes; and (3) to produce a toolkit for use by nursing homes that will allow dissemination of this approach to enhancing the quality and safety of wafarin for the frail elderly. If successful, this approach may provide a model for improving the safety of other medication categories associated with high rates of preventable adverse drug events in the nursing home, and for protecting the most vulnerable among the elderly population.
| Tjia, Jennifer; Field, Terry S; Mazor, Kathleen M et al. (2012) Dementia and risk of adverse warfarin-related events in the nursing home setting. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother 10:323-30 |
| Tjia, Jennifer; Mazor, Kathleen M; Field, Terry et al. (2011) Predicting nursing home adherence to a clinical trial intervention: lessons for the conduct of cluster randomized trials. J Am Geriatr Soc 59:2332-6 |
| Field, Terry S; Tjia, Jennifer; Mazor, Kathleen M et al. (2011) Randomized trial of a warfarin communication protocol for nursing homes: an SBAR-based approach. Am J Med 124:179.e1-7 |
| Tjia, Jennifer; Mazor, Kathleen M; Field, Terry et al. (2009) Nurse-physician communication in the long-term care setting: perceived barriers and impact on patient safety. J Patient Saf 5:145-52 |
