The Dawn AC User Group this year was a fantastic occasion! All of the talks given were excellent, and so we would like to give a special thanks to all the speakers who took part.    We were delighted to see that so many of you provided very positive feedback on the hotels, conference centre and food provided during the meeting.   It was brilliant that so many people could attend the user group this year from long distances such as the USA and South Africa as well as from Europe.   The user group talks and write-ups will be available on the Dawn AC website (www.4s-dawn.com/dawnac) during the coming weeks.   We look forward to seeing you all there next year!

We will shortly be releasing a Dawn AC version 7.6 upgrade within the next few

weeks. There are several improvements made to this version since our last release, a few of which are as follows:

- An improved patient search workflow

- Importing and exporting functionality to easily add items into the system such as  dosing regimes, list views, etc

- Custom modules to help tailor the system for specific needs

- Capability to monitor other types of therapy, ie, rheumatoid arthritis, anaemias, etc, which require different types of tests such as a full blood count.

For further details on version 7.6 please contact us at sales@4s-dawn.com.

The North American User Group is going to be held on the 12th October in Denver, the day before the South West Symposium on Thrombosis and Hemostasis, also being held in Denver, making this, potentially, a very informative and worthwhile trip.

Current speakers include:

- Dan Witt, Head of Anticoagulation at Kaiser Permanente Colorado

- Priscilla DiCarlo, Manager of Anticoagulation at Group Health Cooperative, Seattle

- Brian Schilling, Clinical Pharmacist at Alaska Native Medical Center

- Amy Kramer, Pharmacist at Kaiser Permanente Ohio

- Laura Earl, RN at the University Hospital of New Mexico

- Janet Jensen, RN at Salem Hospital

- Teresa Hodgkins, Pharmacist and Director at Desert Medical Group, Palm Springs

- Lisa Vaughn, RN at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center

- Richard Creamer, Supervisor at Kaiser Permanente Colorado

If you are attending the South West Symposium on Thrombosis and Hemostasis after the North American User Group, please come and visit our booth. We can show how our Dawn AC anticoagulation software can boost both safety and productivity.

We hope to see you there!

Dutch doctors called recently for a greater use of anticoagulants to prevent strokes in patients with common cardiac arrhythmias.

Although guidelines do currently suggest that patients with atrial fibrillation be treated with anticoagulants, many healthcare professionals are wary of this approach due to the complex control needed and the greater risk of bleeding.

Ron Pisters at the University Hospital of Maastricht commented at the Annual European Society of Cardiology Congress that this caution could be costing lives.

A retrospective study of 1,120 patients admitted with ischemic stroke between 2003 and 2006 revealed that 163 of these were diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (89 before admission). Of this number, only 44 patients (49% of the group) had received anticoagulant therapy.

Pisters estimated that the appropriate medication could have prevented approximately 25 of the 89 cases of stroke (although he did comment that the bleeding events would would have risen slightly).

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