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Inappropriate Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in a General Surgery Department: Risk Factors and Improvement with a Simple Educational Program

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the rate of patients with an inappropriate venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis in a Department of Surgery, study the risk factors associated with an inappropriate VTE prophylaxis, and analyze the effect of a simple educational program to improve these results. A quasi-experimental study was performed. VTE prophylaxis was studied in a Department of Surgery. The results of this analysis were presented to the Staff of the Department. Then, prophylaxis was again studied to analyze if this simple educational program improved these results. Inappropriate prophylaxis was seen in nearly 40% of the patients, mainly due to a lack of prescription. Inappropriate prophylaxis was associated with advanced age, ASA, surgical patient, no same-day surgery, no discharged patients, and high VTE risk. In the multivariate analysis, only no same-day surgery was related to inappropriate prophylaxis. The educational program achieved a non-significant reduction of inappropriate prophylaxis (31.7% vs. 40.5%, p = 0.070). A high percentage of patients in the Department of Surgery had an inappropriate VTE prophylaxis, mainly due to the lack of prescription. A simple educational program improved VTE prophylaxis prescription, although this improvement was not statistically significant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, C/ Profesor Martín Lagos SN, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Oscar Cano-Valderrama & Antonio J. Torres

  2. Department of Surgery, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Oscar Cano-Valderrama & Antonio J. Torres

  3. Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria San Carlos, Madrid, Spain

    Oscar Cano-Valderrama & Antonio J. Torres

  4. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain

    Yolanda Cuñarro-López

  5. Department of Surgery, Hospital Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Madrid, Spain

    Beatriz Laiz, Montiel Jiménez-Fuertes & Manuel Duran-Poveda

  6. Department of Medicine and Surgery, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain

    Manuel Duran-Poveda

Authors
  1. Oscar Cano-Valderrama
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  2. Yolanda Cuñarro-López
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  3. Beatriz Laiz
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  4. Montiel Jiménez-Fuertes
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  5. Antonio J. Torres
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  6. Manuel Duran-Poveda
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Correspondence to Oscar Cano-Valderrama.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study, formal consent is not required. This research was approved by the Institutional Review Board.

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Cano-Valderrama, O., Cuñarro-López, Y., Laiz, B. et al. Inappropriate Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in a General Surgery Department: Risk Factors and Improvement with a Simple Educational Program. Indian J Surg 82, 855–860 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-020-02148-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-020-02148-4

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