Simple measures can improve care in our hospitals : an audit of venous thromboembolism practice

Abstract

Abstract: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious but preventable complication of hospitalisation. Doctors still sometimes fail to adhere to them, thus putting patients at risk and incurring considerable expense for the national health service. We chose to audit the practice of doctors in our geriatric facility, and assessed the effect of a memoire to increase compliance. We also explore how our hospitals can learn from the experience of other centres, where the risk of litigation has brought this condition to the forefront. Compliance improved from 30.7% to 63.3%, which was statistically significant. We would suggest that a centralised and organised approach could produce even greater levels of compliance.