Barnesville Hospital Working to Save Lives - Reducing Risk of Blood Thinners

As part of its ongoing efforts to provide outstanding care, Barnesville Hospital has joined with 46 hospitals and health systems across Ohio to reduce life threatening complications associated with anticoagulants- blood thinners- which many patients take to prevent blood clots following a stroke, heart attack, or vascular surgery. This collaborative project was initiated on May 15 by the Ohio Patient Safety Institute (OPSI) and VHA, Inc.

Over the next six months, participating hospitals will create or upgrade their individual safety protocols on anticoagulants to achieve the following goals: to assure that patients are appropriately started on anticoagulants when they are in the hospital and second to provide effective long term monitoring of patients after they have returned home.

Blood thinners are considered a high-alert medication, meaning they are more likely than other medications to cause significant harm to patients, even when used as intended. Blood thinners account for 4 percent of preventable adverse drug events and 10 percent of potential adverse drug events.

The Barnesville Hospital effort will be coordinated by Project Team Leader, Janet Lallathin, RPh, Staff Pharmacist; Joyce Weiss, R.N., BSN, CCU/ICU Staff Nurse; and Jane Hall, RN, BSN, Senior Director of Quality Management/Risk Management all of whom attended the kick off meeting.

"The primary goals of this statewide project are to save lives and to prevent readmission for stroke, and heart and vascular surgery patients," said Hall. "I am extremely pleased that Barnesville Hospital has volunteered to participate in this important project that has the potential to improve the quality of patient care throughout Ohio."

To enhance the success of the program, hospitals will share best practices on the most effective ways to educate patients about the importance of taking anticoagulants properly and to monitor the medication levels in their blood stream. Too much anticoagulant increases the risk of blood loss if injured. Too little increases the risk of clots. Either scenario could be life threatening.

A list of hospitals participating in the OPSI/VHA project is available online at OhioPatientSafety.org. For additional information regarding anticoagulant therapy please call the Barnesville Hospital Pharmacy at 740-425-5108.