Anticoagulants
Anticoagulants are medicines that help prevent blood clots. They're given to people at a high risk of getting clots, to reduce their chances of developing serious conditions such as strokes and heart attacks.
• Anticoagulants work by interrupting the process involved in the formation of blood clots. They're sometimes called "blood-thinning" medicines, although they don't actually make the blood thinner.
Types Of Anticoagulants
Oral :
1- Warfarin
Warfarin and the newer alternatives are taken as tablets or capsules.
2- aspirin :
- Patients on an antiplatelet agent for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or peripheral arterial disease
3- Vitamin K antagonist
• Heparin
1- Heparin needs to be injected with an IV .
2- can be injected directly under the skin.
3- There's also an anticoagulant called heparin that can be given by injection.
• Indications:-
1- Depending on where the clot forms, this can lead to serious problems such as:
2- Strokes or transient ischemic attacks ("mini-strokes").
3- Heart attacks.
4- Deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
5- Pulmonary embolism.
6- If you've recently had surgery.
7- As the period of rest and inactivity.
8- You need during your recovery can increase your risk of developing a blood clot.
• Dose:-
- Most people need to take their tablets or capsules once or twice a day with water or food.
- The length of time you need to keep taking your medicine for depends on why it's been prescribed. In many cases, treatment will be lifelong.
• side effects:-
Is that you can bleed too easily, which can cause problems such as:
1- Passing blood in your urine.
2- Passing blood when you poo or having black poo.
3- Severe bruising.
4- Prolonged nosebleeds.
5- Bleeding gums.
6- Vomiting blood or coughing up blood.
7- Heavy periods in women.
8- Bleeding Tendencies.
• Contraindications
1- Bleeding, especially from internal sources, such as a stomach ulcer or a cerebrovascular hemorrhage (hemorrhagic stroke) .
2- patients at high risk for bleeding due to severely low platelet counts.
3- Hemophilia or recent or planned surgery.
Pregnancy (Warfarin is contraindicated during pregnancy. warfarin may cause bleeding and/or birth defects in infants).
Nursing implication:
. _ Monitor hemorrhage and if it occur you should :
_ stop anticoagulant
_freash blood transfusion is givin to supply clotting factors
_give antidote as doctor order
_observe for any adverse effect such as allergic reaction ,GIT disturbance and teratogenicity.
_ Check laboratory data (cardiac markers, complete blood cell count, electrolytes, ABGs).
_ Note the presence, quality of the central and peripheral pulses.
_ Provide a quiet environment, and reduce activity.