[An outpatient clinic measure and control system for anticoagulation levels, CoaguChek XS]

A significant increase during recent years in the number of patients who need Oral Anticoagulant Treatment has meant a greater role for nurses, especially in Primary Health Care Centers, since nurses, along with doctors, are the professionals responsible for treating those patients. This control is carried out by measuring the levels of anticoagulants in the blood, regulating the anticoagulant medicine doses, and providing patients with the essential health education so patients participate in the treatment of their illness. To a large degree, the preponderance of Primary Health Care Centers in the aforementioned control has developed hand-in-hand with the availability of portable, simple and low cost coagulation measuring systems which permit a direct reading of a patient's anticoagulation level with one drop of capillary blood. The objective of this article is introduce the reader to a measuring system appropriate for outpatient clinic control of anticoagulant levels in blood by mans of the CoaguChek XS System, which is described. The authors specify the sample extraction procedure, how to measure coagulant levels, and recommendations to keep in mind while carrying out this procedure. The authors sketch the importance of health education and finally, they describe some advantages and inconveniences this system has.