Audit of an oral anticoagulant teaching program

Quality assurance criteria for a pharmacist-conducted oral anticoagulant teaching program were studied. The teaching program involved the presentation of descriptive diagrams accompanied by a reinforcing explanation given by a pharmacist. Topics discussed included clotting, warfarin therapy, diet and drug interactions. An audit, consisting of a pretest and posttest, was developed to measure patient knowledge as a measurement of the program's effectiveness. Forty ambulatory patients participated in the study over a three-month period. Before instruction, only five patients were adequately knowledgeable about all of the information components. After instruction, this number increased to 20 patients, and all 40 patients had a better knowledge of each topic. The audit revealed that the program's standards were not completely appropriate and that other methods of program delivery must be evaluated and implemented.