Our progress card on Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Acutely Ill Hospitalized Medical Patients
"Chest" recently reported physicians' progress card on Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in 15,156 Acutely Ill Hospitalized Medical Patients from 52 hospitals in 12 countries via program called IMPROVE (international Medical Prevention Registry on Venous Thromboembolism).
Results:
- Only approximately 60% of patients who either met the ACCP criteria for requiring prophylaxis or were eligible for enrollment in randomized clinical trials that have shown the benefits of pharmacologic prophylaxis actually received prophylaxis.
- Intermittent pneumatic compression was the most common form of medical prophylaxis utilized in the United States, although it was used very rarely in other countries (22% vs 0.2%, respectively).
- Unfractionated heparin was the most frequent pharmacologic approach used in the United States (21% of patients), with low-molecular-weight heparin used most frequently in other participating countries (40%).
- There was also variable use of elastic stockings in the United States and other participating countries (3% vs 7%, respectively.
Conclusions; Data suggest that physicians’ practices for providing VTE prophylaxis to acutely ill hospitalized medical patients are suboptimal.
Reference: click to get article
1. Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Acutely Ill Hospitalized Medical Patients - Chest. 2007; 132:936-945
