A patient-centered approach to the development and pilot of a warfarin pharmacogenomics patient education tool for health professionals

OBJECTIVE To describe an exploratory project to develop and pilot a novel patient educational tool that explains the concept of pharmacogenomics and its impact on warfarin dosing that can be utilized by health professionals providing patient counseling. METHODS A pharmacogenomics educational tool prototype was developed by an interdisciplinary team. During the pilot of the tool, focus group methodology was used to elicit input from patients based upon their perspectives and experiences with warfarin. Focus group sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed, and the data was analyzed through consensus coding in NVivo. RESULTS The focus group participants were generally unfamiliar with the concept of pharmacogenomics but were receptive to the information. They thought the patient education tool was informative and would provide the most benefit to patients newly initiated on warfarin therapy. CONCLUSIONS Preliminary results from this exploratory project suggest that implementation and further feasibility testing of this pharmacogenomics patient education tool should be performed in a population of newly initiated patients taking warfarin.