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Tell us about the excellent care that happens in your service and help others learn from your experiences. Please share your example of an innovative and successful solution to challenges in patient care or service management. Examples should be specific and focus on one particular aspect of your service.

Please send your submission (maximum 500 words) to [email protected]. Please indicate your permission to include your name and email in the website posting so that colleagues can contact you directly with questions.

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Abington Memorial Hospital

Van Hellerslia, PharmD, BCPS ([email protected])


Patient Educational Videos for the Target-Specific Oral Anticoagulants.

Abington Memorial Hospital is a 665- bed community teaching hospital and Level II Trauma Center. In 2011 we treated a motor vehicle accident patient who was on the first FDA approved target-specific oral anticoagulant (TSOAC). Although our institution built safety infrastructures to ensure the safe use of these novel oral anticoagulants in the hospital and established bleeding management guidelines, there was and still is no available reversal agent for target-specific oral anticoagulants.  Despite aggressive, coordinated trauma care and component support, the patient‘s uncontrolled bleeding led to his death and served as a sobering reminder of how we must inform our patients of both the benefits and risks that accompany oral anticoagulants.  

Over the course of the next two years, two additional target-specific oral anticoagulants with various FDA indications became available in the US market. This change was a stark contrast with the previous 50 years, when the only oral anticoagulant available was warfarin. Although warfarin is plagued with the inconvenience of routine laboratory testing and various food and drug interactions, there is a plethora of physician and patient educational resources in both print and video formats from both promotional and unbiased sources. However, with the newer oral anticoagulants (e.g. Pradaxa, Xarelto, and Eliquis), there was an unmet need for unbiased patient educational videos, that outlined the safe and effective use of these high-risk medications.

In 2013, working with cardiologist colleagues, I applied for a grant through the Abington Memorial Hospital Innovators’ Circle program - a resource to promote innovation in health care with direct benefit to patients in our community.  The goal was to create patient videos, easily accessed on the internet that would support patient compliance, while teaching about safe and effective use of the TSOACs.  At the 2013 Anticoagulation Forum national meeting, I met Anticoagulation Forum board member Dr. Ann Wittkowsky and told her about my project.  Dr. Wittkowsky reinforced my enthusiasm and suggested that I submit the videos for inclusion on Anticoagulation Centers of Excellence once they were complete.
 
In March, 2014, the videos were completed and posted on the Abington Health website. The videos are also available in DVD format, as well on the hospital’s closed circuit TV for inpatient use.  In May, 2014, the AC Forum included these patient educational videos as a resource on their Centers of Excellence website.
http://mirror.acforum-excellence.org/?page=resource_center_content_1




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