The prevalence of prophylaxis for deep vein thrombosis in acute hospital trusts

Objective. The effectiveness of activities to promote routine prophylaxis t o prevent thromboembolism is difficult to assess because information about the prevalence of prophylaxis is sparse. The aim of this study was to asses s the prevalence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis for patients at risk in general medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics and gynaecology in Scotland and the North of England. Design. Retrospective case note review of a random sample of episodes of ca re in a stratified random sample of directorates in Scotland and a convenie nce sample in England. Setting. Twenty acute hospital directorates in Scotland and eight in the No rth of England. Participants. Case notes of patients at risk of thrombosis and discharged f rom the selected directorates in a 12-month period (n = 742). Main outcome measures. The proportion of patients receiving prophylaxis in each directorate. Results. Overall, 469/526 (89%) of patients in Scotland and 199/216 (92%) i n England received prophylaxis. The proportion varied from 71% in general m edicine to 100% in orthopaedics. The frequency of use of different forms of prophylaxis varied between directorates. Approximately 60% of the patients who received prophylaxis received more than one form. Conclusions. Prophylaxis for DVT is well established for procedures and con ditions that are known to increase the risk of thrombosis and for which the re are no contraindications. Additional efforts to promote prophylaxis for these conditions are unlikely to be cost effective. Further research is nee ded to establish whether rates are equally high in other conditions, and wh ether the high prophylaxis rates are due to clinical effectiveness initiati ves.