Pharmacist-directed heparin therapy using a standard dosing and monitoring protocol

Use of a protocol for pharmacist determination of heparin sodium dosages administered by continuous i.v. infusion was evaluated by retrospective chart review in a California hospital. Charts of adult medical-surgical patients who received heparin infusions between June 1982 and December 1983 were reviewed for the following information: patient sex, age, and reason for receiving heparin; times, dates, numbers, and values of coagulation tests before and during heparin therapy; times, dates, and values of prothrombin time determinations during conversion to warfarin therapy; and times, number, and costs of heparin infusions. Charts were divided into two groups: those of patients for whom physicians prescribed heparin doses empirically and those of patients for whom physicians requested heparin dosing by the pharmacy department. Data were evaluated for 62 patients in the physician-dosed group and 26 patients in the pharmacy protocol group. Pulmonary embolism was the reason for heparin therapy in 34% of the physician-dosed patients and only 15% of the pharmacist-dosed patients. Pharmacists using the protocol ordered fewer anticoagulation tests and fewer heparin infusions per patient. Time from the start of heparin therapy to therapeutic anticoagulation was shorter in patients whose heparin dose was determined by the protocol, and values in the therapeutic range were achieved in a greater percentage of these patients than in the empirically dosed patients. Pharmacists using a standard dosing protocol effectively initiated and maintained heparin therapy that compared favorably with physician-dosed empiric therapy.