Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis for hospitalized adult patients: A survey of US health care providers on attitudes and practices Journal Article


Authors: Lam, B. D.; Dodge, L. E.; Datta, S.; Rosovsky, R. P.; Robertson, W.; Lake, L.; Reyes, N.; Adamski, A.; Abe, K.; Panoff, S.; Pinson, A.; Elavalakanar, P.; Vlachos, I. S.; Zwicker, J. I.; Patell, R.
Article Title: Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis for hospitalized adult patients: A survey of US health care providers on attitudes and practices
Abstract: Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a leading cause of preventable mortality among hospitalized patients, but appropriate risk assessment and thromboprophylaxis remain underutilized or misapplied. Objectives: We conducted an electronic survey of US health care providers to explore attitudes, practices, and barriers related to thromboprophylaxis in adult hospitalized patients and at discharge. Results: A total of 607 US respondents completed the survey: 63.1% reported working in an academic hospital, 70.7% identified as physicians, and hospital medicine was the most frequent specialty (52.1%). The majority of respondents agreed that VTE prophylaxis is important (98.8%; 95% CI: 97.6%-99.5%) and that current measures are safe (92.6%; 95% CI: 90.2%-94.5%) and effective (93.8%; 95% CI: 91.6%-95.6%), but only half (52.0%; 95% CI: 47.9%-56.0%) believed that hospitalized patients at their institution are on appropriate VTE prophylaxis almost all the time. One-third (35.4%) reported using a risk assessment model (RAM) to determine VTE prophylaxis need; 44.9% reported unfamiliarity with RAMs. The most common recommendation for improving rates of appropriate thromboprophylaxis was to leverage technology. A majority of respondents (84.5%) do not reassess a patient's need for VTE prophylaxis at discharge, and a minority educates patients about the risk (16.2%) or symptoms (18.9%) of VTE at discharge. Conclusion: Despite guideline recommendations to use RAMs, the majority of providers in our survey do not use them. A majority of respondents believed that technology could help improve VTE prophylaxis rates. A majority of respondents do not reassess the risk of VTE at discharge or educate patients about this risk of VTE at discharge. © 2023 The Authors
Keywords: adult; controlled study; middle aged; young adult; major clinical study; practice guideline; age; risk assessment; questionnaire; hospitalization; prophylaxis; health care personnel; physician; attitude; hospital discharge; patient discharge; ethnicity; health care surveys; sex; venous thromboembolism; thematic analysis; health care survey; pharmacist; thrombosis prevention; human; male; female; article; likert scale; hospital medicine
Journal Title: Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis
Volume: 7
Issue: 6
ISSN: 2475-0379
Publisher: Wiley Blackwell  
Date Published: 2023-08-01
Start Page: 102168
Language: English
DOI: 10.1016/j.rpth.2023.102168
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC10520566
PUBMED: 37767063
DOI/URL:
Notes: Article -- Source: Scopus
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  1. Jeffrey Zwicker
    36 Zwicker