Journal of Advanced Nursing Practice

A SURVEY OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS' PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATING PATIENTS ABOUT WARFARIN THERAPY

Akila C.R*, Korni Maheshwari, Gaddam Pallavi, Mohammed Saadhna Tharannum, Vindiela Anusha

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Warfarin Therapy, Health Care, Information Systems, Survey

Using technology (IT) to educate patients about warfarin therapy has benefits and challenges, according to healthcare professionals. Using a tailor-made questionnaire, a cross-sectional study of healthcare professionals in the community and in hospitals (for instance, doctors, pharmacists, nurses) was conducted. For maximum response rates, multimodal distribution was used.109 surveys were completed out of 300 distributed (43.3%). A majority (59.5%) of the healthcare participants were female, with over half (53.2%) aged between 40-59 years. Among those who had attended IT related patient education resource related to warfarin, 49 participants (54.1%) reported not having used such resources; 19 participants (38.0%) did not use such resources. Patients' ages, cognitive impairments, ethnic backgrounds and language barriers were among the most important factors that healthcare participants described when educating their patients on warfarin therapy. Patients' education about warfarin therapy was also hampered by time constraints. Warfarin therapy presented several challenges to healthcare professionals when it came to educating their patients. A computer and an interactive touch screen kiosk were the most commonly used IT devices in general practices, community clinics, and hospital clinics to provide warfarin education resources. Professionals in healthcare also identified a number of facilitators (e.g., providing reliable and easy-to-understand warfarin education) as well as barriers (e.g., utilizing IT resources takes time and money, operating the resources is difficult) in this way, patient education about warfarin therapy may be ineffective. There is a need for better access to and greater use of IT-based resources for warfarin education among healthcare professionals. This type of IT tool can also help health care professionals educate patients about warfarin therapy by addressing concerns raised in the study