Periprocedural Antithrombotic Management from a Patient Perspective: A Qualitative Analysis

Perioperative Management of Patients Taking Direct Oral Anticoagulants: A Review

Importance

Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), comprising apixaban, rivaroxaban, edoxaban, and dabigatran, are commonly used medications to treat patients with atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism. Decisions about how to manage DOACs in patients undergoing a surgical or nonsurgical procedure are important to decrease the risks of bleeding and thromboembolism.

Observations

For elective surgical or nonsurgical procedures, a standardized approach to perioperative DOAC management involves classifying the risk of procedure-related bleeding as minimal (eg, minor dental or skin procedures), low to moderate (eg, cholecystectomy, inguinal hernia repair), or high risk (eg, major cancer or joint replacement procedures). For patients undergoing minimal bleeding risk procedures, DOACs may be continued, or if there is concern about excessive bleeding, DOACs may be discontinued on the day of the procedure. Patients undergoing a low to moderate bleeding risk procedure should typically discontinue DOACs 1 day before the operation and restart DOACs 1 day after. Patients undergoing a high bleeding risk procedure should stop DOACs 2 days prior to the operation and restart DOACs 2 days after. With this perioperative DOAC management strategy, rates of thromboembolism (0.2%-0.4%) and major bleeding (1%-2%) are low and delays or cancellations of surgical and nonsurgical procedures are infrequent. Patients taking DOACs who need emergent (<6 hours after presentation) or urgent surgical procedures (6-24 hours after presentation) experience bleeding rates up to 23% and thromboembolism as high as 11%. Laboratory testing to measure preoperative DOAC levels may be useful to determine whether patients should receive a DOAC reversal agent (eg, prothrombin complex concentrates, idarucizumab, or andexanet-α) prior to an emergent or urgent procedure.

Conclusions and Relevance

When patients who are taking a DOAC require an elective surgical or nonsurgical procedure, standardized management protocols can be applied that do not require testing DOAC levels or heparin bridging. When patients taking a DOAC require an emergent, urgent, or semiurgent surgical procedure, anticoagulant reversal agents may be appropriate when DOAC levels are elevated or not available.

Potential for a Virtual Care Model in the Perioperative Management of Anticoagulant Therapy: A 5-Year Retrospective Clinic Review

Background  With a trend toward greater virtual care in selected clinical settings, perioperative anticoagulant management appears well suited for this care delivery model. We explored the potential for virtual care among patients who are receiving anticoagulant therapy and require perioperative management around the time of an elective surgery/procedure. Methods  We undertook a retrospective review of patients who were receiving anticoagulant therapy, either a direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) or warfarin, assessed in a perioperative anticoagulation-bridging clinic over a 5-year period from 2016 to 2020. Using prespecified criteria, we determined the proportion of patients who likely would be suitable for virtual care (receiving a DOAC or warfarin and having a minimal- or low-/moderate-bleed-risk surgery/procedure), those who likely would be suitable for in-person care (receiving warfarin and requiring heparin bridging for a mechanical heart valve), and patients who would be suitable for either care delivery model (receiving a DOAC or warfarin, but not with a mechanical heart valve, and requiring a high-bleed-risk surgery/procedure). Results  During the 5-year study period, there were 4,609 patients assessed for perioperative anticoagulant management in whom the most widely used anticoagulants were warfarin (37%), apixaban (30%), and rivaroxaban (24%). Within each year assessed, 4 to 20% of all patients were undergoing a minimal-bleed-risk procedure, 76 to 82% were undergoing a low-/moderate-bleed-risk surgery/procedure, and 10 to 39% were undergoing a high-bleed-risk surgery/procedure. The proportion of patients considered suitable for virtual, in-person, or either virtual or in-person management was 79.6, 7.1, and 13.3%, respectively. Conclusion  In patients who were assessed in a perioperative anticoagulation clinic, there was a high proportion of patients in whom a virtual care model might be suitable.

Improving preprocedure antithrombotic management: Implementation and sustainment of a best practice alert and pharmacist referral process

BACKGROUND

Electronic medical record-based interventions such as best practice alerts, or reminders, have been proposed to improve evidence-based medication prescribing. Formal implementation evaluation including long-term sustainment are not commonly reported. Preprocedural medication management is often a complex issue for patients taking antithrombotic medications.

METHODS

We implemented a best practice alert (BPA) that recommended referral to an anticoagulation clinic before outpatient elective gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopies. Eligible patients were taking an oral anticoagulant (warfarin or direct oral anticoagulant [DOAC]) and/or antiplatelet medications. Patients referred to the anticoagulation clinic were compared to those managed by the ordering provider. Outcomes assessed included guideline-adherent drug management before endoscopy, documentation of a medication management plan, guideline-adherent rates of bridging for high-risk patients taking warfarin, and evaluation for sustained use of BPA.

RESULTS

Eighty percent of patients (553/691) were referred to the anticoagulation clinic during the initial 13-month study period. Most referrals came from gastroenterologists (397/553; 71.8%) followed by primary care providers (127/554; 22.9%). Patients referred had improved rates of guideline-adherent medication management compared to those who were not referred (97.4% vs 91.0%; P = .001). Documentation of medication plan was significantly higher in the referred group (99.1% vs 59.4%; P ≤ .001). There were no differences in rates of appropriate bridging for patients taking warfarin. Implementation of the BPA also resulted in sustained, consistent use over an additional 18 months following the initial study period.

CONCLUSION

Implementation of a BPA before elective outpatient GI endoscopies was associated with improved rates of guideline-adherent medication management and documented management plan, while streamlining preprocedural medication management.

Assessment of a Best Practice Alert and Referral Process for Preprocedure Antithrombotic Medication Management for Patients Undergoing Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Procedures

IMPORTANCE

Management of antithrombotic medications presents a challenge for many clinicians and patients before procedures. Anticoagulation clinic involvement may improve preprocedure coordination, satisfaction on the part of patients and clinicians, last-minute procedure cancellations, and patient safety.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the implementation of an electronic medical record (EMR) best practice alert (BPA) and anticoagulation clinic referral process to assist with management of antithrombotic medication before gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This multimodal evaluation of a quality improvement intervention using EMRs and survey data included patients using oral antithrombotic medications who were scheduled for elective gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures at an academic medical center along with the clinicians who ordered these procedures. Data were collected from November 1, 2017, through December 19, 2018. Data were analyzed in September 2019.

EXPOSURES

Following a multidisciplinary intervention, a BPA and referral process for periprocedural antithrombotic medication management was implemented in November 2017.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

The following implementation outcomes were assessed through EMR review and surveys through December 2018: use of BPAs, patient and clinician satisfaction with preprocedure anticoagulation management, procedure cancelation rates, reach, and spread by patient and clinician characteristics. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate variance in BPA use at the clinician level.

RESULTS

A total of 2082 patients (mean [SD] age, 64.1 [11.9] years) and 144 clinicians were included in the analysis. The BPA was used broadly across the health system, resulting in anticoagulation clinic referral for 1389 patients (66.7%). Referral was more common for patients using anticoagulant vs antiplatelet medications (1041 of 1524 [68.3%] vs 346 of 556 [62.2%]; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.51; 95% CI, 1.15-1.98) and for procedures ordered by gastroenterologists vs primary care clinicians (933 of 1241 [75.2%] vs 365 of 618 [59.1%]; aOR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.46-3.17). Individual clinician behavior patterns explained 26.5% (95% CI, 18.7%-36.1%) of variation in anticoagulation clinic referrals. Implementation of the intervention was associated with high patient satisfaction and improvements in multidimensional measures of clinician satisfaction (clinician response rate, 44.2% [144 of 326]). In multivariable analysis, the odds of altered or canceled procedures because of medication mismanagement declined after implementation (8 of 50 [16.0%] vs 1 of 52 [1.9%]; aOR, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.01-0.96; P = .02).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

A newly implemented BPA and anticoagulation clinic referral process was broadly adopted and used, had high satisfaction by patients and clinicians, and was associated with fewer disruptions to planned procedures caused by medication mismanagement.