Overview
Introduction
An anticoagulant prevents a clot from enlarging or a new clot from forming; it does not dissolve an established thrombus.
An anticoagulant prevents a clot from enlarging or a new clot from forming; it does not dissolve an established thrombus. The nurse's first medication question is therefore not simply, “Is the patient bleeding?” It is, “Which drug is this, what does it inhibit, how quickly does it act, and what finding tells me the balance has become unsafe?” The parenteral anticoagulants — unfractionated heparin and low molecular weight heparin — and the role they play in preventing and treating thromboembolic disease. Heparins are frequently used during acute treatment because they act quickly and, in the case of unfractionated heparin, can be reversed rapidly when bleeding occurs or urgent surgery is needed. Oral anticoagulants extend this framework: warfarin has a delayed, INR-guided effect, whereas direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) act directly on a single activated factor and are not routinely titrated with INR or aPTT. The registered nurse is responsible for safe administration, accurate monitoring, and rapid recognition of complications. Heparins are used to treat and prevent deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, to bridge patients onto oral anticoagulation, to manage acute...