Operating procedures

Anticoagulant clinic

First visit: Bring your prescription, your health insurance card, your MHI card, your prescription for medical and pharmaceutical anticoagulant therapy as well as the anticoagulant you are taking. You are expected to present yourself at the reception desk by 9 a.m. Do not take a number and be sure to mention that you are a new patient. After registering, your blood test will be carried out; before you see a physician, you will be given information on various aspects of anticoagulant therapy as well as a brochure on anticoagulants.

Subsequent visits: In the beginning, your visits will be more frequent. Subsequently, they will be as much as seven weeks apart. You will be required to present yourself at the clinic on the date agreed to at your previous appointment, taking the clinic's opening hours into account.

Stages of the visit

• Initially, you will be asked to take a blood test to determine your International Normalized Ratio (INR).
• It is not necessary to fast for this blood test.
• You are required to see the physician for the first four visits.
• As of the 5th visit, once you complete your blood test, you have two choices:

1.   Wait at the clinic to see the physician; he or she will call you roughly one hour after your blood test and will write up a new prescription for Warfarine, based on the results of your test. You must inform the physician of any recent events likely to have modified your INR, for example:

2.   Leave the clinic and call back between 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to obtain your prescription. You are responsible for calling the technologist at the anticoagulant clinic to obtain your results, your new Warfarine prescription and the date of your next appointment. Patients whose tests are in the morning must call back the same afternoon, while patients with afternoon appointments are asked to call back the following afternoon. The telephone number is (514) 376-3330, extension 3683. Please have your file number available.

Before leaving the clinic, you must see the physician and provide him or her with your name and dosage; also make sure to inform the physician of any events likely to have modified your INR.