Thesis abstract:

Anticoagulants are life-saving medicines used to stop blood clots from forming. Despite wide usage, anticoagulants are one of the most common causes of medication-related harm in hospital. Pharmacist-led Anticoagulation Stewardship (ACS) is an internationally recognised, comprehensive and multidisciplinary hospital service that aims to reduce patient harm and improve care by ensuring anticoagulants are used safely. Currently, ACS exists at seven sites across Australia. Greater research in this area, particularly at a local level, is required to provide the evidence to advocate for greater expansion of this service across Australia. We aim to review international practice and published evidence to develop quality indicators for pharmacist-led ACS for implementation across healthcare facilities. We then aim to test an intervention on an ACS outcome.