Protocol implementation for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis: a before-and-after study in medical and surgical patients

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the adequacy of venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis prescription after a protocol implementation. METHODS: This was a before-and-after study conducted in a tertiary care hospital in Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil. Medical and surgical inpatients aged 18 years or older were assessed for VTE risk and subsequently for thromboprophylaxis adequacy, according to their risk. The evaluations occurred before and after the protocol strategy implementation; it consisted of an online platform to access the protocol, a public posting of the protocol diagram, clinical alerts on the medical staff TV, e-mail alerts, and pop-up alerts on the computerized physician order entry system. The main outcome measure was the adequacy of VTE prophylaxis prescription according to the protocol. RESULTS: A total of 429 patients were evaluated for thromboprophylaxis adequacy (213 before and 216 after). The prevalence of adequacy increased from 54% to 63% (pre and post-intervention, respectively), and after adjustment for patient type and phase of the study, the prevalence ratio reached (PR)=1.20, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.42. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the overall appropriateness of thromboprophylaxis prescription was weakly improved. Despite these results, this study provides evidence to date a bunch of strategies for protocol implementations in private institutions in middle-income countries with an open medical staff, as there are few studies investigating these simple and pragmatic interventions.