UNE > News and Events > Browse by article > Scholarship for UNE study of treatment for blood clotting

Next Vice-Chancellor's farewell celebrates her achievements December 16, 2005  

Previous Honours project demonstrates value of tree planting for biodiversity December 14, 2005 

Scholarship for UNE study of treatment for blood clotting

December 15, 2005

WestCruik.thumb.jpgA PhD student at The University of New England has won a national medical research scholarship to continue her assessment of the quality of care for patients being treated with the anti-blood-clotting agent warfarin.

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has awarded a Public Health Postgraduate Scholarship, worth $26,800 for 2006, to Kerrie Westaway, a registered nurse who lives in Adelaide.

Warfarin, an anticoagulant, is used in the treatment of conditions – including heart problems and deep vein thrombosis – that involve blood clotting. Ms Westaway’s research, which began in 2004, is the first to follow the progress of patients taking warfarin after they leave hospital.

“Although warfarin has been in clinical use for 40 or 50 years,” she explained, “there are still no data on the management of warfarin-treated patients after they leave hospital. We need such data because there is such a small difference between the correct dose of warfarin and a harmful dose. A quarter of the 59 patients I’ve followed so far have had at least one episode of an excessive level of warfarin, exposing them to an increased risk of bleeding.”

She added that the oldest of those 59 patients was 89, while the youngest was 18.

Ms Westaway, who graduated from UNE in 2003 with a Master of Health Science (First Class Honours) degree, aims to follow 357 patients in Adelaide for the first five months of warfarin treatment. Her assessment will include the patient’s understanding of – and compliance with – the treatment, the maintenance of the desired anticoagulant level, and the doctor’s monitoring of the patient’s progress.

“This is a purely observational study,” she said. “It will let doctors know what’s happening and, if necessary, where improvements can be made. Doctors are very supportive of my work, which aims, ultimately, to minimise the risk of bleeding for their patients.”

Her supervisor at UNE, Dr Mary Cruickshank, said she was delighted by the award not only because it had gone to a UNE student but also because the recipient was, unusually, a graduate of nursing rather than medicine. Dr Cruickshank said she thought there was a good chance that Ms Westaway could win another NHMRC scholarship for 2007 to help her complete her PhD thesis.

Kerrie Westaway is pictured here, at the left of the photograph, with Dr Cruickshank.


Media contact: Kerrie Westaway on 0419 851 856 or Dr Mary Cruickshank, School of Health, UNE (02) 6773 3640.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at December 15, 2005 02:06 PM