Reliability of Risk Assessment for Intra-Hospital Venous Thromboembolism: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVE: Hospital-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major cause of unintended death in hospitalized patients. Standardized and reasonable prevention measures may reduce its occurrence effectively. This study aims to analyze the consistency of VTE risk assessment by physicians and nurses and its potential causes. METHODS: A total of 897 patients admitted to Shanghai East Hospital from December 2021 to March 2022 were recruited. The VTE assessment scores of physicians and nurses and the activities of daily living (ADL) scores within the first 24 h of admission were collected for each patient. Cohen’s Kappa values were calculated to assess the inter-rater consistency of these scores. RESULTS: VTE scores were fairly consistent between doctors and nurses in both surgical (Kappa = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.25–0.34) and non-surgical (Kappa = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.31–0.38) departments. There was moderate agreement in VTE risk assessment between doctors and nurses in surgical departments (Kappa = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.38–0.62) while fair agreement in VTE risk assessment between doctors and nurses in non-surgical departments (Kappa = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.26–0.40). The assessment of the mobility impairment component was fairly consistent between doctors and nurses in the non-surgical departments (Kappa = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.25–0.37). CONCLUSION: Due to the poor consistency of VTE risk assessment between doctors and nurses, it is necessary to provide systematic training and develop a standardized assessment process for healthcare professionals to construct a scientific and effective VTE prevention and treatment system.