Evaluation of a Pharmacist-Led Remote Warfarin Management Model Using a Smartphone Application (Yixing) in Improving Patients’ Knowledge and Outcomes of Anticoagulation Therapy

Abstract

Background: The management of warfarin-treated patients has been recognized as a challenge due to narrow therapeutic range and food and drug interactions in warfarin therapy. We aim to evaluate the effect of a pharmacist-led remote warfarin management model using a smartphone application (app) on anticoagulation therapy.Methods: Eligible patients who had received warfarin therapy after mechanical heart valve replacement were enrolled. The intervention group was offered a pharmacist-led remote warfarin management model using the app named Yixing. Yixing incorporates functions including automatic daily reminder, personal health record, educational program, and online counseling. The control group received traditional pharmacy services without Yixing. Co-primary outcomes were patients’ awareness score of warfarin therapy obtained from questionnaire, the medication adherence measured by the percentage of the correct-warfarin-taken days in the monitored period, the fraction of time in therapeutic range (FTTR), and the incidence of anticoagulation-related complications. The needed information of the patients was acquired via electronic medical records from the hospital, Yixing system and telephone follow-up when necessary.Results: 64 and 66 patients were initially in the intervention and control groups respectively. After propensity score matching, 50 patients were assigned in each group. The intervention group had a median age of 51.0 years, in which 27 (54%) were male. The control group had a median age of 50.5 years, in which 28 (56%) were male. Patient awareness score in the intervention group was 8.00 (2.00), which was higher than that in the control group, with score at 6.50 (2.50) (p = 0.001). No significant difference was found in the percentage of the correct-warfarin-taken days between the two groups (p = 0.520). The median (interquartile range) value of FTTR was 80.3% (21.9%) and 72.1% (17.7%) in the intervention and control groups respectively (p = 0.033), and no significant differences in the incidence of anticoagulation-related complications were observed (p = 0.514).Conclusion: The pharmacist-led remote warfarin management model using Yixing improves patients’ awareness of warfarin therapy and increases FTTR, but may not have significant improvements on medication adherence and safety.

Smartphone Apps for Managing Antithrombotic Therapy: Scoping Literature Review

“…It includes functions such as reminders for drug intake, a personal health record, an educational program to raise the patient’s awareness, and online counseling. The authors conducted a prospective study with 100 patients who had received a valve replacement; patients were distributed equally into an intervention group, who were using the Yixing app after receiving app-based training, and a control group, who would receive oral medication training but no further support after being discharged from the hospital [ 16 ]. The results revealed that using the app could increase the patient’s awareness and days spent within the therapeutic range but did not have an influence on the number of days that warfarin was taken correctly or the incidence of anticoagulation-related complications.…”

Long Short-Term Memory Network for Development and Simulation of Warfarin Dosing Model Based on Time Series Anticoagulant Data

“…To assist clinicians with individualizing warfarin therapy, we simulated individualized warfarin dosing based on LSTM_INR. The trend of using mobile applications or electronic systems for anticoagulation is likely more suitable for long-term individualized therapy and anticoagulant self-management ( 27 , 28 ). Thus, we developed an application (AI-WAR) in which we embedded these were embed in.…”

Combining portable coagulometers with the Internet: A new model of warfarin anticoagulation in patients following mechanical heart valve replacement

“…As in most studies, the Internet-based group showed a significantly higher TTR, and anticoagulation complications, including bleeding and embolic events, were less frequent in the Internet-based group than in the conventional group (6.94% vs. 12.74%; P = 0.01). Jiang et al ( 63 ) developed an APP named “Yixing”, which was not connected to a portable clotting instrument. Compared with follow-up using telephone remote management, this APP established a communication platform for patients and pharmacists, facilitating timely management of warfarin, improving efficiency, and increasing fraction of TTR (FTTR).…”