Outcomes of pharmaceutical care combined with telephone monitoring in patients receiving warfarin at Mahasarakham Hospital

Abstract

Objective : To evaluate the impact of pharmaceutical care combined with telephone follow-up on INR control and the knowledge scores in patients receiving warfarin via telemedicine.

Methods : A quasi-experimental study with one-group pretest-posttest design was conducted. Data were collected from November 2024 to January 2025. Patients who received warfarin prescriptions through telemedicine and had medications delivered by mail were eligible for inclusion. Participants received pharmaceutical care combined with telephone follow-up for three months. Pharmacists assessed INR control and knowledge scores before and after intervention. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test and McNemar’s test where appropriate.

Result : A total of 30 patients participated in the study. The mean knowledge scores before and after telephone follow-up were 6.60±1.73 and 8.97±1.13, respectively, demonstrating a statistically significant increase (p-value < .001). The percentage of patients whose INR control was within target range increased from 63.33% to 80.00%, but there was no statistically significant difference (p-value = 0.180).

Conclusion : Pharmaceutical care combined with telephone monitoring improved patients’ knowledge and increased the proportion of patients whose INR control was within the therapeutic target range.