Abstract

Patients with mechanical valve replacement surgery require lifelong therapy with warfarin . Warfarin is a drug with narrow therapeutic index, its monitoring parameter INR below 2 results in clotting ,while above 3 results in bleeding and other ADRs like dark urine, limb pain, headache,etc. Hence an effective patient education is essential for achieving better outcomes of warfarin therapy and also reduction in the incidence of ADRs. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of patient education on warfarin therapy and also reduction in the incidence of ADRs by comparing counseled to that of non-counselled group. For the study patients were divided into 2 groups, counseled and non-counselled groups. ADRs observed in both patient groups were noted during their follow-up. SPSS version 20 and INSTAT software were used for data analysis. Unpaired t test was performed .The results showed that there was reduction in the incidence of ADRs in the group counseled. Further non counseled group were twice as much as risk of ADRs to that of counseled group. Unpaired t test showed a significant difference between the two groups. It can be concluded from the study that patient education plays an effective role in the reduction of incidence of ADRs and also in the achievement of better outcomes of warfarin therapy.