one of our doctors at our surgery has asked if there is any more information on starting new patients on warfarin on the rat program. if there is anymore information on this could you please send it to me.
thank you
emma berry

Dear Emma,
I have used the BNF recommendations on starting / initiating patients on warfarin.
There is lots of literature and scoring systems out there regarding whether a patient with AF should be started on aspirin or warfarin.

It gets more tricky when a patient is started on warfarin in hospital and is discharged halfway through initiation. I takes some guessimating are there is little or no literature on this.

The help file on RAT gives some guidance on starting warfarin.
It is best to enter at least 3 previous INR/weekly warfarin doses so that RAT can make a judgement on the new dose regimen. You have to enter the weekly warfarin dose (or theoretical weekly dose) which can be tricky on occasions if the patient has just started warfarin in hospital in the previous week.


Regards
Colm Rafferty