A Prince of Wales Hospital clinic for managing patients taking the anti-clotting drug Warfarin has reported promising results.
The patients visit the clinic on an average of once every eight weeks for a blood test and to see a pharmacist, who follows up on what medication they are taking and also provides them with education on drugs.
The hospital launched the pharmacist-managed clinic aimed at patients taking Warfarin in 2004.
'Warfarin is a very special drug,' the clinic's pharmacist, Grace Chow Man-chi, said.
'It can interact with many other drugs, traditional Chinese medicine and common food, which can endanger the patients. Therefore, closer monitoring is needed.'
'Patients usually have to wait three to six months to see the doctor in the hospital's general out-patient clinic. Our services can monitor their health condition better.'
In one case, a 78-year-old woman took painkillers to relieve her joint pain.
