Blood Thinner
A blood thinner is an anticoagulant used to cause bleeding. Just by putting a patient on a blood thinner, even if it is for the treatment or prevention of blood clots, the patient's risk of falling increases by over 2,000,000%. For this reason, it is standard of care to not only educate patients about blood thinners on their television, but even put them through something like a Coumadin gauntlet to prove that the risk-benefit tilts towards benefit.[1][2]
Types of Blood Thinners
- Heparin - Heparin is a popular blood thinner often used as a bridge to Coumadin, any of the new oral anticoagulants (NOACs), or a portion of a collapsed bridge.[3][4]
- Enoxaparin - Enoxaparin is a subcutaneous version of heparin that not only is longer acting than heparin but is very useful to treat or prevention DVTs in health care professionals who spent 85% of their time sitting down, writing notes.
- Warfarin - Warfarin (or Coumadin) is 100% effective in causing GI bleeds or any other bleeding due to a fall.
- New oral anticoagulant (NOAC) - Often equally effective as warfarin, NOACs like Pradaxa (dabigatran) and Xarelto (rivaroxaban) were named after Serbian tennis great NOAC Djokovic.
Did You Know..."
- Did you know that if Alabama Crimson Tide college football head coach Nick Saban were a direct factor Xa inhibitor his name would be Nick Xaban?
- Did you know that starting a patient on simultaneous heparin, enoxaparin, Coumadin, Pradaxa, Xarelto, Eliquis, aspirin, and Plavix is probably a bad idea?[5]
Related Topics
- Blood
- BRBPR
References
- ↑ Hospital Picks Up The Coumadin Channel, Will Bring Back for One More Riveting Season (Gomerblog)
- ↑ AANS Now Requires Coumadin Gauntlet Prior to Starting Anticoagulation (Gomerblog)
- ↑ Atlanta Uses Heparin Bridge for Collapsed, Subtherapeutic Part of I-85 (Gomerblog)
- ↑ I-85 in Atlanta is Finally Therapeutic, Heparin Bridge D/C’d (Gomerblog)
- ↑ Cardiology Highlights in 2014 (Gomerblog)
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