Master Warfarin Antidotes with Picmonic for Medicine

With Picmonic, facts become pictures. We've taken what the science shows - image mnemonics work - but we've boosted the effectiveness by building and associating memorable characters, interesting audio stories, and built-in quizzing.

DOWNLOAD PDF

Recommended Picmonics

Warfarin

Benzodiazepine Antidote

Alteplase

Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor Poisoning

Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor Antidote

Warfarin Antidotes

War-fairy

Picmonic

Warfarin, also called Coumadin, is an oral anticoagulant used in the prevention of thrombosis and embolism. Warfarin inhibits vitamin K epoxide reductase and leads to depletion of active vitamin K to be used by blood coagulation proteins. Therefore, warfarin toxicity leads to hemorrhage. A common scenario that leads to overdose is ingestion of rat and mice pesticides. Additionally, many commonly used medications interact with warfarin which can predispose to a high risk of bleeding or causes the dose of warfarin to be insufficient to protect against thromboembolic events. The pharmacologic action of warfarin can be reversed by vitamin K and fresh frozen plasma. However, the onset of vitamin K is not immediate. When more immediate reversal is necessary, fresh frozen plasma can be used to replace factors II, V, VII, IX, X, and XI.

2 KEY FACTS

Vitamin K is involved in the production of coagulation factors II, VII, IX, X, protein C and S. Giving vitamin K can help reverse the anticoagulation effects of warfarin but it does not have immediate onset of action.

Fresh frozen plasma (FFP) refers to the liquid portion of human blood that has been frozen and preserved after a blood donation. FFP replaces factors II, V, VII, IX, X, and XI and helps to reverse warfarin effects much quicker than vitamin K.

DOWNLOAD PDF