St. Peter’s Hospital, in March 2008, opened an Anti-Coagulation Clinic in the Laboratory at the Maria Dean Medical Office Building. The clinic provides monitoring services to people who are taking a blood thinner such as warfarin (Coumadin).

The clinic is staffed by Hospital pharmacists who are specially trained in managing anticoagulant therapy. Studies have show that management of warfarin therapy by anticoagulation clinics can reduce the risk of bleeding and reduce the likelihood of forming harmful blood clots.

At each Anticoagulation Clinic visit, the pharmacist takes a small sample of blood from a finger stick to determine how long it takes the blood to clot, which is called a protime or INR test. In most cases, the protime/INR test result will be available immediately using a portable testing device. Doctors give the pharmacists guidelines which allow the pharmacist to make adjustments to warfarin doses based on the results of the protime/INR test after a thorough assessment of the patient’s medications, diet, health, and compliance. The information from each Anticoagulation Clinic visit is documented in electronic medical records.

The clinic is open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information about the Anticoagulation Clinic, call 495-6800 or email anticoag@stpetes.org.

St. Peter's Hospital Clinical Laboratory is a full service Joint Commission Accredited laboratory. It is located on the main floor of the Hospital and is in close proximity of the Emergency Department. The Laboratory consists of two major services: clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology. Two Board Accredited pathologists staff the Laboratory along with licensed clinical laboratory scientists, phlebotomists and support staff. The Laboratory has two outpatient drawing areas, one in the main Hospital near the main entrance and the other located in the adjacent Maria Dean Medical Office Building. Outpatient visits for lab tests are accepted between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The inpatients and outpatients served consist of pediatric aged through geriatric aged patients. By C.L.I.A. standards, St. Peter's Clinical Laboratory is licensed as able to perform high-complexity laboratory testing. St. Peter's Clinical Laboratory provides laboratory services for the majority of all testing requested on both inpatients at St. Peter's and outpatients in the greater Helena area. Tests not performed at St. Peter's Clinical Laboratory are sent to reference laboratories that are both approved by St. Peter’s Hospital Medical Staff and accredited through HCFA (CLIA) certification.

If you have questions about the Laboratory, please feel free to contact the Laboratory Director at (406) 444-2313 or Laboratory Client Services at (406) 444-2325.