Improved Coumadin therapy using a continuous quality improvement process

Through the Continuous Quality Improvement process, we determined that a significant number of patients were receiving too much Coumadin and having potentially serious side effects. The number of patients studied is limited, and there are only two time intervals reported postintervention. This makes it difficult to draw a definite relationship between the observed rates of Coumadin overdosing and the selected intervention. By educating the physicians on proper Coumadin dosing, we were able to reduce the number of patients experiencing hemorrhage or other complications. Our follow-up data review 1 year later showed that the gain had not been maintained as well as we would have hoped. This demonstrates that active review by Pharmacy and Laboratory on a regular basis and additional physician education would be beneficial. Through this process we gained valuable experience using the FOCUS PDCA method of continuous quality improvement.