Quality of anticoagulation control and costs of monitoring warfarin therapy among patients with atrial fibrillation in clinic settings: a multi-site managed-care study.

Background: Warfarin is recommended for prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation who are at moderate or high risk, but requires intensive management to achieve safe and optimal anticoagulation control. Anticoagulation clinics are often used to administer warfarin therapy more effectively.

Objective: To collect data from multiple sites and assess the quality and costs associated with anticoagulation clinic services.

A new instrument for measuring anticoagulation-related quality of life: development and preliminary validation.

Background: Anticoagulation can reduce quality of life, and different models of anticoagulation management might have different impacts on satisfaction with this component of medical care. Yet, to our knowledge, there are no scales measuring quality of life and satisfaction with anticoagulation that can be generalized across different models of anticoagulation management. We describe the development and preliminary validation of such an instrument - the Duke Anticoagulation Satisfaction Scale (DASS).

Factors influencing physicians' reported use of anticoagulation therapy in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: Some elderly patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) who might benefit from warfarin therapy do not receive it.

Objective: The goal of this cross-sectional study was to identify physicians' attitudes and beliefs that are associated with their reported use of warfarin in case scenarios.

Methods: A self-administered survey was mailed to a cross-section of general internists randomly selected from a national pool of physicians in the American Medical Association Masterfile.