Background: Anticoagulation therapy with warfarin is widely considered the standard of care for stoke prophylaxis in patients with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of stroke. Community-based studies in the US have reported that the effectiveness of anticoagulation varies by management...

Capillary whole blood point-of-care instruments for prothrombin time testing have been available for the last 10 years for use both in an office or hospital setting as well as at home by patients for self-monitoring of oral anticoagulant therapy. There are currently 4 types of instruments...