McMaster Textbook of Internal Medicine

McMaster Textbook of Internal Medicine
Interviews
VTE
Identification cards for patients on anticoagulation therapy

Identification cards for patients on anticoagulation therapy

2019-01-21

Mark Crowther

Recorded at the 4th McMaster International Review Course in Internal Medicine (MIRCIM).

Should patients receiving anticoagulation treatment carry a special identification card?

Mark Crowther, MD: Good question. It really depends on the patient and how likely the patient is going to present to the emergency department and be unable to report that.

If you have an elderly patient who is on 8 medications and she has trouble remembering what they are, then having some kind of identity statement, medical alert bracelet, some other record is probably very useful. Patients do not think about many of these newer drugs as being anticoagulant—everybody knows that warfarin, phenprocoumon, or acenocoumarol are anticoagulants because they are rat poison. But patients do not know that dabigatran, apixaban, or rivaroxaban are blood thinners. So I think if the patient has got many medications and their memory is maybe not that good, it is very useful.

I think if you have a young man or woman who is only on 1 blood thinner, who just had an episode of blood clots and is very unlikely to not be able to report that they are on that drug, I do not think it is necessary.

See also

Bleeding complications after antithrombotic treatment What should be the first management steps to be taken immediately upon admission of a patient with bleeding complications of antithrombotic treatment?
Use of vitamin K antagonists Is there still a place for vitamin K antagonists? When can they be used?
Reducing the duration of lifelong antithrombotic treatment In what patients can we consider reducing the duration of lifelong antithrombotic treatment?
Perioperative bridging in patients treated with vitamin K antagonists In what patients treated with vitamin K antagonists should we use perioperative bridging therapy?
When to restart anticoagulants after a bleeding event A lecture by Dr James Douketis, from McMaster University, Canada, delivered at McMaster International Review Course in Internal Medicine in Kraków in May 2017.
Anticoagulation after a VTE episode: when is it necessary, for how long and which drug to use A lecture by Dr Jeffrey Weitz, from McMaster University, Canada, delivered at McMaster International Review Course in Internal Medicine in Kraków in May 2017.
Antithrombotic therapies: current patterns of practice and controversies A lecture by Dr Mark Crowther, from McMaster University, Canada, delivered at McMaster International Review Course in Internal Medicine in Kraków in May 2017.
Popliteal vein thrombosis after a flight. Part 1 A 40-year-old otherwise healthy man had a popliteal vein thrombosis after a 9-hour flight. One month after the event there was no sign of a thrombus on ultrasonography and D-dimer levels were normal. What prophylaxis should be used in this patient before long-haul flights in the future?
Balancing the risk of recurrent VTE and the bleeding risk from anticoagulation How can we balance the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism following an episode of unprovoked VTE and the increased bleeding risk associated with continued anticoagulation?

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