Background: Direct oral anticoagulants are high alert medications as per ISMP. It is imperative for healthcare professionals to have adequate knowledge for their safe handling.
Aims: This study aimed at evaluating knowledge and attitude of various health professionals towards safe use of direct anticoagulants (DOACs) in two hospitals setting.
Methods: This study was conducted at two large academic care centers including one private
(Aga Khan University hospital) and one public sector hospital (National institute of cardiovascular institutes) during January 2019. Study was ethically approved by ERC of both hospitals
(ERC2019-0763-1198, ERC 05/2019). A survey questionnaire was developed to evaluate critical knowledge related to dosing, indications, laboratory monitoring and antidotes of DOACs. SPSS version 21 was used for assessment of cognitive scores and stratified for age, gender, profession and as per experience for using DOACs. Attitude and behavior were recorded using a 5-point Likert’s scale and analyzed through SPSS AMOS for regression analysis.
Results: 445 of 550 participants responded while 15 forms were rejected. Final response rate was 78%. There were 234 female (54.4%) and 196 (45.6%) male participants and included 63.3% nurses, 8% pharmacists and 28% residents & 8% consultant doctors. There were 15% participants who had never used DOACS .Overall better scores were observed for pharmacokinetics (61%) , bridging (62%) and patient safety (60%) while borderline scores were obtained for reversal (56%), indication usage (50%)and laboratory monitoring (48%). No difference in knowledge with respect to age group and gender was observed .Pharmacists were more knowledgeable for pharmacokinetics and antidote compared to other groups. Value of R2 was 0.623 indicating moderate correlation between independent and dependent variable for estimation of behavior with Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.712
Conclusions: The study identified knowledge gaps for DOACS. Seminars and discussion need to be organized for health professionals to improve safe use of DOACS.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Khan S, Moiz DB. Knowledge and Attitude towards Safe use of Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs) among Doctors, Nurses and Pharmacist in a Developing Country, Karachi, Pakistan [abstract]. Res Pract Thromb Haemost. 2020; 4 (Suppl 1). https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/knowledge-and-attitude-towards-safe-use-of-direct-oral-anticoagulants-doacs-among-doctors-nurses-and-pharmacist-in-a-developing-country-karachi-pakistan/. Accessed January 24, 2022.« Back to ISTH 2020 Congress
ISTH Congress Abstracts - https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/knowledge-and-attitude-towards-safe-use-of-direct-oral-anticoagulants-doacs-among-doctors-nurses-and-pharmacist-in-a-developing-country-karachi-pakistan/