Jessica Schillig, PharmD, BCPS

Anticoagulants are one of the most common drug classes involved in medication errors and adverse events. Warfarin, an anticoagulant that plays a key role in the management of many disease states, is implicated in approximately 30% of reported anticoagulant‐related errors.1 Anticoagulation with warfarin is complicated by inter‐individual variability in response to therapy, clinically significant drug interactions, a narrow therapeutic window, and the need for frequent and lifelong monitoring.2

In the hospital setting, warfarin use is complicated due to patient handoff among health care providers, and acute illnesses that impact sensitivity and response to warfarin. Common causes of errors with anticoagulants are knowledge deficits, failure to follow policy/procedure/protocol, and communication issues.1 An added opportunity for warfarin‐related medication errors is the risk associated with the transition from the inpatient‐to‐outpatient setting. Due to the risk and complexity associated with anticoagulant medications, the Joint Commission instituted National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 03.05.01 (formerly NPSG 3E): a series of requirements intended to Reduce the likelihood of patient harm with the use of anticoagulation therapy.3 In order to optimally address this National Patient Safety Goal, a systematic intervention would be required to impact each step of the medication use process for anticoagulants.

Several studies have suggested that dedicated anticoagulation management services or clinics improve anticoagulation management in the outpatient setting.2 Non‐physician providers, primarily pharmacists and nurses, frequently manage outpatient anticoagulation management services or clinics. However, very few studies have evaluated the impact of a warfarin management service in the inpatient hospital setting.48 While the few available studies suggest some benefit associated with an inpatient anticoagulation management service, a minority of these studies have assessed the role of these services in facilitating the transition of the anticoagulated patient to the outpatient setting.7

In order to improve anticoagulation management and safety, our institution implemented an inpatient Pharmacist‐Directed Anticoagulation Service (PDAS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of this service on both transition of care and safety of patients receiving warfarin anticoagulation.

METHODS

This study was completed at Henry Ford Hospital, an 802‐bed, tertiary care, level 1 trauma and academic medical center in Detroit, MI. The study was carried out between November 2007 and June 2009. The study was approved by the Henry Ford Hospital Institutional Review Board with waiver of consent.

RESULTS

Anticoagulant Safety

Safety endpoint data is presented in Table 4. The composite safety outcome of INR >5, major bleeding event, or thrombosis occurred in 12.4% of all patients with no early thrombotic events and only three major bleeding events recorded. Excessive INR values >5 occurred less frequently in the PDAS patients, however, differences in this metric and the composite safety outcome were not significantly different. Safety endpoint results in the overall population were driven by a reduction in INR values >5 among newly initiated warfarin patients in the PDAS group (PDAS: 9.5% vs control: 19.7%; P = 0.079; Figure 1). Other subgroup analyses relating to the safety endpoint are presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1

DISCUSSION

This article describes a systematic intervention designed to improve anticoagulation safety and efficacy in the hospital and during the transition to the postdischarge setting. Implementation of a PDAS did not impact patient bleeding and thrombotic outcomes, but did result in improved coordination and documentation of warfarin management and subsequent enhancement in the transition of the anticoagulated patient from the inpatient‐to‐outpatient setting with the Pharmacist‐Directed Anticoagulation Service.

Limited previous work has investigated the role of an anticoagulation service in inpatient management of anticoagulation.48 Only one published study has investigated the impact of this type of service on transition of care issues with warfarin, as was done in our study.7 In that study, management by an inpatient anticoagulation service resulted in a greater proportion of patients referred to an anticoagulation clinic for management (P = 0.001), more patients presenting to the anticoagulation clinic with a therapeutic INR (P = 0.001), and fewer patients presenting to the clinic with supratherapeutic levels of anticoagulation (P = 0.002). These results are somewhat analogous to our findings, in that patients in our study were less likely to require a dose change at the first clinic follow‐up visit after discharge or to have INR values 5.

We completed several subgroup analyses to thoroughly explore the impact of the PDAS on the safety endpoint. While firm conclusions cannot be drawn from these subgroup analyses, some hypothesis‐generating observations can be made. First, there was a greater impact of the PDAS on the safety endpoint in patients who are usually more sensitive to the effects of warfarin and therefore more challenging to manage.2 The impact of the PDAS was also greater among patients whose length of stay was more than five days (population median). This is significant because it suggests that when the opportunity for adverse events and miscommunication is greatest (ie, during hospitalizations of longer duration), there appears to be improvement in the safety endpoint with the PDAS.

To our knowledge, this study was the first to explore the impact of an inpatient anticoagulation service on the care of both newly initiated and existing warfarin patients, rather than only patients newly initiated on warfarin. As expected, the greatest influence of the PDAS on the safety endpoint was observed among the newly initiated patients. While the safety impact of the PDAS was noted most significantly among the newly initiated patients, the PDAS had a positive effect on the transition of care metrics regardless of previous warfarin use.

A limitation of our study should be mentioned. While we employed a design in which randomly selected units were exposed to the PDAS, individual patients were not randomized to the service. This cluster randomized design was chosen because it mimics quality improvement processes that would be rolled out to a hospital nursing unit. While lack of randomization at the patient level is a limitation, our cluster randomized study design is pragmatic and represents an improvement over the existing published before and after quasi‐experimental studies in this area.48

An improved system for documentation of communication was built into the PDAS processes on implementation of the service. However, it should also be noted that inadequate communication between inpatient and outpatient providers was an identified root cause for adverse events with warfarin in our institution prior to implementation of the PDAS. Therefore, improvement in the transition of care metrics with the PDAS were likely due to a combination of both improved documentation and true improvement in communication.

The approach of the PDAS was refined in several ways early after implementation of the service. Some major notable improvements included the development of a systematic approach to ensuring appropriate follow‐up and transition of care for patients being discharged to a skilled nursing facility, and creation of a system that required a mandatory conversation between the PDAS and a surgical service if anticoagulation is ordered within 48 hours of a major procedure. An upcoming improvement to the service will be to transition from a home grown electronic database, which was built for the purposes of streamlining clinical workflow and data collection, to a commercially available software program that has recently become available for management of inpatient anticoagulation. The major advantage of the new program will be the clinical decision support capabilities that will help to further streamline the service and allow for greater efficiency.

To understand implications of our PDAS intervention, it is important to remember that the majority of study patients were prescribed warfarin prior to hospital admission, that patients in both study groups were enrolled in an established, multisite anticoagulation clinic, and that patients in both groups were managed with a comprehensive inpatientoutpatient electronic medical record. Therefore, all providers caring for these patients had real‐time access to all warfarin dosing and dose adjustments, INR results, and anticoagulation clinic encounters, even though formal communication between providers was infrequently documented for control group patients in our electronic medical record. Study patients had low rates of bleeding and no adverse thrombotic outcomes across both treatment groups. Therefore, this type of model is likely to produce larger gains in communication and safety outcomes in health care systems without established anticoagulation clinics or comprehensive electronic medical records.

The PDAS was enthusiastically accepted by providers at our institution and expanded hospital‐wide after completion of this pilot. The PDAS model is a viable approach to standardize anticoagulant management with a goal of improving anticoagulant safety in the inpatient setting. Assessment of the effectiveness of models such as the PDAS for improving anticoagulant safety in the inpatient setting is particularly relevant with the current expectations for hospitals set by The Joint Commission's NPSG.03.05.01.3 More importantly the PDAS model can be an option for improving the transition of the anticoagulated patient from the inpatient‐to‐outpatient setting. Follow‐up with the anticoagulation clinic occurred earlier with the PDAS and, while this study was not designed to evaluate the impact of this new service on rehospitalization, recent literature suggests that earlier follow‐up after discharge leads to less rehospitalization.10 Finally, it may be possible to adapt this model to provide more intensive medication therapy management and monitoring for hospitalized patients with other complicated medication regimens or chronic disease.

CONCLUSION

The clinical pharmacist is uniquely prepared to manage inter‐individual variability in pharmacodynamic response to drug therapy, as well as to provide high‐quality patient education. This study evaluated a new model of inpatient warfarin management, in which warfarin dosing, monitoring, patient education, and transition of care was coordinated by a specialized team of clinical pharmacists that worked in collaboration with physicians and outpatient anticoagulation clinic staff. Safety and efficiency of the care provided by this new service was improved in certain subsets of more complex patients. The major advantage of this service was improvement in patient handoff, improved communication, and earlier patient follow‐up after discharge. Therefore, implementation of a Pharmacist‐Directed Anticoagulation Service provides a net improvement in quality of care for the patient taking warfarin in the inpatient setting.

Anticoagulants are one of the most common drug classes involved in medication errors and adverse events. Warfarin, an anticoagulant that plays a key role in the management of many disease states, is implicated in approximately 30% of reported anticoagulant‐related errors.1 Anticoagulation with warfarin is complicated by inter‐individual variability in response to therapy, clinically significant drug interactions, a narrow therapeutic window, and the need for frequent and lifelong monitoring.2

In the hospital setting, warfarin use is complicated due to patient handoff among health care providers, and acute illnesses that impact sensitivity and response to warfarin. Common causes of errors with anticoagulants are knowledge deficits, failure to follow policy/procedure/protocol, and communication issues.1 An added opportunity for warfarin‐related medication errors is the risk associated with the transition from the inpatient‐to‐outpatient setting. Due to the risk and complexity associated with anticoagulant medications, the Joint Commission instituted National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 03.05.01 (formerly NPSG 3E): a series of requirements intended to Reduce the likelihood of patient harm with the use of anticoagulation therapy.3 In order to optimally address this National Patient Safety Goal, a systematic intervention would be required to impact each step of the medication use process for anticoagulants.

Several studies have suggested that dedicated anticoagulation management services or clinics improve anticoagulation management in the outpatient setting.2 Non‐physician providers, primarily pharmacists and nurses, frequently manage outpatient anticoagulation management services or clinics. However, very few studies have evaluated the impact of a warfarin management service in the inpatient hospital setting.48 While the few available studies suggest some benefit associated with an inpatient anticoagulation management service, a minority of these studies have assessed the role of these services in facilitating the transition of the anticoagulated patient to the outpatient setting.7

In order to improve anticoagulation management and safety, our institution implemented an inpatient Pharmacist‐Directed Anticoagulation Service (PDAS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of this service on both transition of care and safety of patients receiving warfarin anticoagulation.

METHODS

This study was completed at Henry Ford Hospital, an 802‐bed, tertiary care, level 1 trauma and academic medical center in Detroit, MI. The study was carried out between November 2007 and June 2009. The study was approved by the Henry Ford Hospital Institutional Review Board with waiver of consent.

RESULTS

Anticoagulant Safety

Safety endpoint data is presented in Table 4. The composite safety outcome of INR >5, major bleeding event, or thrombosis occurred in 12.4% of all patients with no early thrombotic events and only three major bleeding events recorded. Excessive INR values >5 occurred less frequently in the PDAS patients, however, differences in this metric and the composite safety outcome were not significantly different. Safety endpoint results in the overall population were driven by a reduction in INR values >5 among newly initiated warfarin patients in the PDAS group (PDAS: 9.5% vs control: 19.7%; P = 0.079; Figure 1). Other subgroup analyses relating to the safety endpoint are presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1

DISCUSSION

This article describes a systematic intervention designed to improve anticoagulation safety and efficacy in the hospital and during the transition to the postdischarge setting. Implementation of a PDAS did not impact patient bleeding and thrombotic outcomes, but did result in improved coordination and documentation of warfarin management and subsequent enhancement in the transition of the anticoagulated patient from the inpatient‐to‐outpatient setting with the Pharmacist‐Directed Anticoagulation Service.

Limited previous work has investigated the role of an anticoagulation service in inpatient management of anticoagulation.48 Only one published study has investigated the impact of this type of service on transition of care issues with warfarin, as was done in our study.7 In that study, management by an inpatient anticoagulation service resulted in a greater proportion of patients referred to an anticoagulation clinic for management (P = 0.001), more patients presenting to the anticoagulation clinic with a therapeutic INR (P = 0.001), and fewer patients presenting to the clinic with supratherapeutic levels of anticoagulation (P = 0.002). These results are somewhat analogous to our findings, in that patients in our study were less likely to require a dose change at the first clinic follow‐up visit after discharge or to have INR values 5.

We completed several subgroup analyses to thoroughly explore the impact of the PDAS on the safety endpoint. While firm conclusions cannot be drawn from these subgroup analyses, some hypothesis‐generating observations can be made. First, there was a greater impact of the PDAS on the safety endpoint in patients who are usually more sensitive to the effects of warfarin and therefore more challenging to manage.2 The impact of the PDAS was also greater among patients whose length of stay was more than five days (population median). This is significant because it suggests that when the opportunity for adverse events and miscommunication is greatest (ie, during hospitalizations of longer duration), there appears to be improvement in the safety endpoint with the PDAS.

To our knowledge, this study was the first to explore the impact of an inpatient anticoagulation service on the care of both newly initiated and existing warfarin patients, rather than only patients newly initiated on warfarin. As expected, the greatest influence of the PDAS on the safety endpoint was observed among the newly initiated patients. While the safety impact of the PDAS was noted most significantly among the newly initiated patients, the PDAS had a positive effect on the transition of care metrics regardless of previous warfarin use.

A limitation of our study should be mentioned. While we employed a design in which randomly selected units were exposed to the PDAS, individual patients were not randomized to the service. This cluster randomized design was chosen because it mimics quality improvement processes that would be rolled out to a hospital nursing unit. While lack of randomization at the patient level is a limitation, our cluster randomized study design is pragmatic and represents an improvement over the existing published before and after quasi‐experimental studies in this area.48

An improved system for documentation of communication was built into the PDAS processes on implementation of the service. However, it should also be noted that inadequate communication between inpatient and outpatient providers was an identified root cause for adverse events with warfarin in our institution prior to implementation of the PDAS. Therefore, improvement in the transition of care metrics with the PDAS were likely due to a combination of both improved documentation and true improvement in communication.

The approach of the PDAS was refined in several ways early after implementation of the service. Some major notable improvements included the development of a systematic approach to ensuring appropriate follow‐up and transition of care for patients being discharged to a skilled nursing facility, and creation of a system that required a mandatory conversation between the PDAS and a surgical service if anticoagulation is ordered within 48 hours of a major procedure. An upcoming improvement to the service will be to transition from a home grown electronic database, which was built for the purposes of streamlining clinical workflow and data collection, to a commercially available software program that has recently become available for management of inpatient anticoagulation. The major advantage of the new program will be the clinical decision support capabilities that will help to further streamline the service and allow for greater efficiency.

To understand implications of our PDAS intervention, it is important to remember that the majority of study patients were prescribed warfarin prior to hospital admission, that patients in both study groups were enrolled in an established, multisite anticoagulation clinic, and that patients in both groups were managed with a comprehensive inpatientoutpatient electronic medical record. Therefore, all providers caring for these patients had real‐time access to all warfarin dosing and dose adjustments, INR results, and anticoagulation clinic encounters, even though formal communication between providers was infrequently documented for control group patients in our electronic medical record. Study patients had low rates of bleeding and no adverse thrombotic outcomes across both treatment groups. Therefore, this type of model is likely to produce larger gains in communication and safety outcomes in health care systems without established anticoagulation clinics or comprehensive electronic medical records.

The PDAS was enthusiastically accepted by providers at our institution and expanded hospital‐wide after completion of this pilot. The PDAS model is a viable approach to standardize anticoagulant management with a goal of improving anticoagulant safety in the inpatient setting. Assessment of the effectiveness of models such as the PDAS for improving anticoagulant safety in the inpatient setting is particularly relevant with the current expectations for hospitals set by The Joint Commission's NPSG.03.05.01.3 More importantly the PDAS model can be an option for improving the transition of the anticoagulated patient from the inpatient‐to‐outpatient setting. Follow‐up with the anticoagulation clinic occurred earlier with the PDAS and, while this study was not designed to evaluate the impact of this new service on rehospitalization, recent literature suggests that earlier follow‐up after discharge leads to less rehospitalization.10 Finally, it may be possible to adapt this model to provide more intensive medication therapy management and monitoring for hospitalized patients with other complicated medication regimens or chronic disease.

CONCLUSION

The clinical pharmacist is uniquely prepared to manage inter‐individual variability in pharmacodynamic response to drug therapy, as well as to provide high‐quality patient education. This study evaluated a new model of inpatient warfarin management, in which warfarin dosing, monitoring, patient education, and transition of care was coordinated by a specialized team of clinical pharmacists that worked in collaboration with physicians and outpatient anticoagulation clinic staff. Safety and efficiency of the care provided by this new service was improved in certain subsets of more complex patients. The major advantage of this service was improvement in patient handoff, improved communication, and earlier patient follow‐up after discharge. Therefore, implementation of a Pharmacist‐Directed Anticoagulation Service provides a net improvement in quality of care for the patient taking warfarin in the inpatient setting.

Anticoagulants are one of the most common drug classes involved in medication errors and adverse events. Warfarin, an anticoagulant that plays a key role in the management of many disease states, is implicated in approximately 30% of reported anticoagulant‐related errors.1 Anticoagulation with warfarin is complicated by inter‐individual variability in response to therapy, clinically significant drug interactions, a narrow therapeutic window, and the need for frequent and lifelong monitoring.2

In the hospital setting, warfarin use is complicated due to patient handoff among health care providers, and acute illnesses that impact sensitivity and response to warfarin. Common causes of errors with anticoagulants are knowledge deficits, failure to follow policy/procedure/protocol, and communication issues.1 An added opportunity for warfarin‐related medication errors is the risk associated with the transition from the inpatient‐to‐outpatient setting. Due to the risk and complexity associated with anticoagulant medications, the Joint Commission instituted National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 03.05.01 (formerly NPSG 3E): a series of requirements intended to Reduce the likelihood of patient harm with the use of anticoagulation therapy.3 In order to optimally address this National Patient Safety Goal, a systematic intervention would be required to impact each step of the medication use process for anticoagulants.

Several studies have suggested that dedicated anticoagulation management services or clinics improve anticoagulation management in the outpatient setting.2 Non‐physician providers, primarily pharmacists and nurses, frequently manage outpatient anticoagulation management services or clinics. However, very few studies have evaluated the impact of a warfarin management service in the inpatient hospital setting.48 While the few available studies suggest some benefit associated with an inpatient anticoagulation management service, a minority of these studies have assessed the role of these services in facilitating the transition of the anticoagulated patient to the outpatient setting.7

In order to improve anticoagulation management and safety, our institution implemented an inpatient Pharmacist‐Directed Anticoagulation Service (PDAS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of this service on both transition of care and safety of patients receiving warfarin anticoagulation.

METHODS

This study was completed at Henry Ford Hospital, an 802‐bed, tertiary care, level 1 trauma and academic medical center in Detroit, MI. The study was carried out between November 2007 and June 2009. The study was approved by the Henry Ford Hospital Institutional Review Board with waiver of consent.

RESULTS

Anticoagulant Safety

Safety endpoint data is presented in Table 4. The composite safety outcome of INR >5, major bleeding event, or thrombosis occurred in 12.4% of all patients with no early thrombotic events and only three major bleeding events recorded. Excessive INR values >5 occurred less frequently in the PDAS patients, however, differences in this metric and the composite safety outcome were not significantly different. Safety endpoint results in the overall population were driven by a reduction in INR values >5 among newly initiated warfarin patients in the PDAS group (PDAS: 9.5% vs control: 19.7%; P = 0.079; Figure 1). Other subgroup analyses relating to the safety endpoint are presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1

DISCUSSION

This article describes a systematic intervention designed to improve anticoagulation safety and efficacy in the hospital and during the transition to the postdischarge setting. Implementation of a PDAS did not impact patient bleeding and thrombotic outcomes, but did result in improved coordination and documentation of warfarin management and subsequent enhancement in the transition of the anticoagulated patient from the inpatient‐to‐outpatient setting with the Pharmacist‐Directed Anticoagulation Service.

Limited previous work has investigated the role of an anticoagulation service in inpatient management of anticoagulation.48 Only one published study has investigated the impact of this type of service on transition of care issues with warfarin, as was done in our study.7 In that study, management by an inpatient anticoagulation service resulted in a greater proportion of patients referred to an anticoagulation clinic for management (P = 0.001), more patients presenting to the anticoagulation clinic with a therapeutic INR (P = 0.001), and fewer patients presenting to the clinic with supratherapeutic levels of anticoagulation (P = 0.002). These results are somewhat analogous to our findings, in that patients in our study were less likely to require a dose change at the first clinic follow‐up visit after discharge or to have INR values 5.

We completed several subgroup analyses to thoroughly explore the impact of the PDAS on the safety endpoint. While firm conclusions cannot be drawn from these subgroup analyses, some hypothesis‐generating observations can be made. First, there was a greater impact of the PDAS on the safety endpoint in patients who are usually more sensitive to the effects of warfarin and therefore more challenging to manage.2 The impact of the PDAS was also greater among patients whose length of stay was more than five days (population median). This is significant because it suggests that when the opportunity for adverse events and miscommunication is greatest (ie, during hospitalizations of longer duration), there appears to be improvement in the safety endpoint with the PDAS.

To our knowledge, this study was the first to explore the impact of an inpatient anticoagulation service on the care of both newly initiated and existing warfarin patients, rather than only patients newly initiated on warfarin. As expected, the greatest influence of the PDAS on the safety endpoint was observed among the newly initiated patients. While the safety impact of the PDAS was noted most significantly among the newly initiated patients, the PDAS had a positive effect on the transition of care metrics regardless of previous warfarin use.

A limitation of our study should be mentioned. While we employed a design in which randomly selected units were exposed to the PDAS, individual patients were not randomized to the service. This cluster randomized design was chosen because it mimics quality improvement processes that would be rolled out to a hospital nursing unit. While lack of randomization at the patient level is a limitation, our cluster randomized study design is pragmatic and represents an improvement over the existing published before and after quasi‐experimental studies in this area.48

An improved system for documentation of communication was built into the PDAS processes on implementation of the service. However, it should also be noted that inadequate communication between inpatient and outpatient providers was an identified root cause for adverse events with warfarin in our institution prior to implementation of the PDAS. Therefore, improvement in the transition of care metrics with the PDAS were likely due to a combination of both improved documentation and true improvement in communication.

The approach of the PDAS was refined in several ways early after implementation of the service. Some major notable improvements included the development of a systematic approach to ensuring appropriate follow‐up and transition of care for patients being discharged to a skilled nursing facility, and creation of a system that required a mandatory conversation between the PDAS and a surgical service if anticoagulation is ordered within 48 hours of a major procedure. An upcoming improvement to the service will be to transition from a home grown electronic database, which was built for the purposes of streamlining clinical workflow and data collection, to a commercially available software program that has recently become available for management of inpatient anticoagulation. The major advantage of the new program will be the clinical decision support capabilities that will help to further streamline the service and allow for greater efficiency.

To understand implications of our PDAS intervention, it is important to remember that the majority of study patients were prescribed warfarin prior to hospital admission, that patients in both study groups were enrolled in an established, multisite anticoagulation clinic, and that patients in both groups were managed with a comprehensive inpatientoutpatient electronic medical record. Therefore, all providers caring for these patients had real‐time access to all warfarin dosing and dose adjustments, INR results, and anticoagulation clinic encounters, even though formal communication between providers was infrequently documented for control group patients in our electronic medical record. Study patients had low rates of bleeding and no adverse thrombotic outcomes across both treatment groups. Therefore, this type of model is likely to produce larger gains in communication and safety outcomes in health care systems without established anticoagulation clinics or comprehensive electronic medical records.

The PDAS was enthusiastically accepted by providers at our institution and expanded hospital‐wide after completion of this pilot. The PDAS model is a viable approach to standardize anticoagulant management with a goal of improving anticoagulant safety in the inpatient setting. Assessment of the effectiveness of models such as the PDAS for improving anticoagulant safety in the inpatient setting is particularly relevant with the current expectations for hospitals set by The Joint Commission's NPSG.03.05.01.3 More importantly the PDAS model can be an option for improving the transition of the anticoagulated patient from the inpatient‐to‐outpatient setting. Follow‐up with the anticoagulation clinic occurred earlier with the PDAS and, while this study was not designed to evaluate the impact of this new service on rehospitalization, recent literature suggests that earlier follow‐up after discharge leads to less rehospitalization.10 Finally, it may be possible to adapt this model to provide more intensive medication therapy management and monitoring for hospitalized patients with other complicated medication regimens or chronic disease.

CONCLUSION

The clinical pharmacist is uniquely prepared to manage inter‐individual variability in pharmacodynamic response to drug therapy, as well as to provide high‐quality patient education. This study evaluated a new model of inpatient warfarin management, in which warfarin dosing, monitoring, patient education, and transition of care was coordinated by a specialized team of clinical pharmacists that worked in collaboration with physicians and outpatient anticoagulation clinic staff. Safety and efficiency of the care provided by this new service was improved in certain subsets of more complex patients. The major advantage of this service was improvement in patient handoff, improved communication, and earlier patient follow‐up after discharge. Therefore, implementation of a Pharmacist‐Directed Anticoagulation Service provides a net improvement in quality of care for the patient taking warfarin in the inpatient setting.