Objective. To evaluate the impact of telephone follow-up service on clinical outcomes in patients on warfarin when discharged\nfrom hospital. Methods. This randomized controlled trial was conducted at a general hospital in Thailand. Patients aged ...years who were prescribed warfarin when discharged were eligible to participate in this study. They were randomly allocated,\nusing a computer generated random number, to receive either telephone follow-up intervention or usual care. Participants in the\nintervention group received telephone follow-up by hospital pharmacists for three months.During each telephone call, pharmacists\nperformed medicine use reviews and addressed any problems identified. Key Findings. A total of..patients participated in this\nstudy.The proportion of international normalized ratio (INR) values in the target range for the telephone follow-up group (............)was higher than that in the usual care group (.........).... The mean time in the therapeutic range (TTR) in the\ntelephone follow-up group was also higher than that in the usual care group (.....versus....) All patients\nin the usual care group experienced one or more out-of-range INR values (.......)compared to .. out of ..(..) in the\ntelephone follow-up group, .............................There was no difference between the two groups in the incidence of complications or adverse\nevents associated with warfarin. Conclusions.The telephone follow-up service in recently discharged patients helps them achieve\nand maintain their INR target. This anticoagulant supportive service should be promoted to patients receiving warfarin therapy\nafter discharge.This trial is registered with .....................(Thai Clinical Trials Registry).
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