Over the past decade, direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have contributed to a major paradigm shift in thrombosis management, replacing vitamin K antagonists as the most commonly prescribed anticoagulants in many countries. While DOACs provide distinct advantages over warfarin (eg, convenience, simplicity, and safety), they are frequently associated with inappropriate prescribing and adverse events. These events have prompted regulatory agencies to mandate oversight, which individual institutions may find difficult to comply with given limited resources. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has leveraged technology to develop the DOAC Population Management Tool (PMT) to address these challenges. This tool has empowered VHA to update a 60‐year standard of care from one‐to‐one provider‐to‐patient anticoagulation monitoring to a population‐based management approach. The DOAC PMT allows for the oversight of all patients prescribed DOACs and leads to intervention only when clinically indicated. Using the DOAC PMT, facilities across VHA have maximized DOAC oversight while minimizing resource usage. Herein, we discuss how the DOAC PMT was conceived, developed, and implemented, along with the challenges encountered throughout the process. Additionally, we share the impact of the DOAC PMT across VHA, and the potential of this approach beyond anticoagulation and VHA.

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Background: Venous thromboembolic prophylaxis after major orthopaedic surgeries is an essential topic to review and has a lot of controversies and differences regarding which method to emphasize and the duration of each method of prophylaxis to be used in daily practice in orthopaedic surgery. Here we mentioned the review of literature with respect to thromboembolic prophylaxis in orthopaedic surgery including the latest guidelines and we made a meta-analysis of data from many studies regarding the use of different pharmacological agents after major orthopaedic surgeries like total hip replacement (THR), total knee replacement (TKR), hip fracture and knee arthroscopic surgery. Method: we searched Medline via PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Google Scholar from 2010 till November 2019. The search retrieved 2089 unique records. We then retained 57 potentially eligible records for full-texts screening. Finally, 29 studies were included. Results: the rate of DVT was higher with DTI than with LMWH and lowest with FXaI, while the rate of PE was higher with DTI than FXaI and lowest with LMWH. The rate of major bleeding was higher with LMWH than with FXaI and lowest with DTI, indicating that FXaI has the lead in thromboembolic prophylaxis after THR or TKR with lower risk of bleeding compared to LMWH. Conclusion: FXaI was the most effective agent after THR and TKR. In hip fracture surgery and Knee arthroscopy, thromboprophylaxis is needed, but variable results regarding the drug choice warrant more research.

Periprocedural management of antithrombotics is a common but challenging clinical scenario that renders patients vulnerable to potential adverse events such as bleeding and thrombosis. Over the past decade, periprocedural antithrombotic approaches have changed considerably with the advent of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), as well as a paradigm shift away from bridging in many warfarin patients. Successfully navigating this high-risk period relies on a number of individualized patient assessments conducted within a framework of standardized, systematic approaches. It also requires a thorough understanding of antithrombotic pharmacokinetics, multidisciplinary coordination of care, and comprehensive patient education and empowerment. In this article, we provide clinicians with a practical, stepwise approach to periprocedural management of antithrombotic agents through case-based examples of relevant clinical scenarios.