Evaluation of knowledge on warfarin medication therapy and warfarin therapy adherence among patients under MTAC unit in Hospital Sultanah Aminah (HSA), Johor Bahru, Johor

Warfarin is used to prevent the blockage due to condition such as atrial fibrillation and mitral valve replacement. Thus it is important to know the risk and factors related to over and under-warfarinization due to the side effects or warfarin which is bleeding. This study hence explores the patient's knowledge on warfarin medication therapy, INR control of patient and patient's adherence towards warfarin therapy. Besides, the main focus of this study is to determine the factors that correlated to medication knowledge, medication adherence and INR controls among patients. A cross-sectional study design was conducted at MT AC Warfarin Clinic of Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru. 97 random and willingly patients were approached to answer two sets of questionnaires; one set is to assess level of patient's knowledge and one set is to assess level of patient's adherence. Patients' medical record was then reviewed to obtain their INR readings. 68% of the patients were 50 years and above, the least of respondent age group was below 20 years with 3 respondents involved. Most of the patients involved (66) had an atrial fibrillation (AF) while 31 of them were indicated as Mitra! valve Replacement (MVR) patients. 57.7% of the pm1icipants in this study had a good level of patient's knowledge. Majority (71.1 %) had a fairly good level of their INR control while 53.6% of the patients had a fairly good level of adherence. Race and education level were the only variables that shown a significant different towards the patient's knowledge (p< 0.05). Chinese and Indians patients own a major spot of having a good knowledge towards warfarin therapy. Patient's knowledge was correlated to the patient INR reading within the point of care. This confirms that when patients have a good level of knowledge, their INR control is good. Patient's adherence and the INR reading within the range (p< 0.05) also found to have a correlation.