Venous thrombosis prevention - more than just guidelines.
Hospital-associated venous thromboembolism remains a major international cause of avoidable mortality and morbidity. Although the publication of national guidelines does increase the use of thromboprophylaxis, we present the results of a recent audit of thrombosis prevention in UK hospitals which, despite published guidelines, shows continuing significant variations in guideline implementation and practice. The results of this audit are paralleled with UK and international data on hospital-acquired thrombosis prevention and the potential solutions to these problems, particularly the lessons which can be learned from other areas of clinical practice, are discussed.
Department of Transfusion Medicine, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, UK. peterclark@nhs.net <peterclark@nhs.net>
Peter
P
Clark
Olivia
O
Wu
Ian A
IA
Greer
Gordon D O
GD
Lowe
D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006113:United Kingdom; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000517:prevention & control*