Involving parents in monitoring their children’s heart condition at home has led to closer, safer monitoring, less interruptions to schooling, and a prestigious patient safety award nomination for Paediatric Cardiac Liaison Nurse Wendy Williams explains: “We have many patients with Congenital Heart Disease who need to take Warfarin to prevent blood clots. Previously, they travelled from as far away as Haverfordwest to get a blood test to monitor how the medication was working. They may not have seen the same doctor each time, and the weekly travel is very disruptive and time consuming for children and their families.”
Wendy worked with Paediatric Cardiologist Dr Orhan Uzun and Paediatric Cardiac Liaison Nurse Claire Logan to set up a nurse-led service. Claire said: “We trained parents to monitor their children at home, using a handheld machine. They can ring us with the results, and our nursing team are now trained and qualified to prescribe appropriate doses of Warfarin over the phone.
“Instead of travelling to us once a week, families can speak to us and we can monitor the dosage daily if necessary, when the child is unwell for example. This way we have already identified three patients whose levels were too high because of other illnesses, which meant we could respond with appropriate treatment immediately. Previously they might not speak to the same doctor each time, but our nursing team gets to know the patients as they have continuity of care. This means we can make judgements based on how other medication might affect them, or environmental factors such as going on holiday.
“Patients can take the test before they go to school, they no longer need to travel long distances weekly. Doctors’ time is freed up to focus on other patients and most importantly, patients receive safe, close monitoring and high quality care.”
