Thrombosis guidelines could prevent hospital deaths

Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) - a blood cloth in the veins which causes a blockage in the main artery of the lung - is internationally recognized as one the most common preventable cause of hospital death.

But a study based on an audit of Mater Dei Hospital's geriatric facility, published in the Malta Medical Journal, shows that some doctors still fail to adhere to guidelines on how to prevent VTE - "putting patients at risk and incurring considerable expense for the National Health Service", according to the doctors who authored the study.

But the serious complication mostly resulting from hospitalization of older patients can be prevented if doctors follow a few simple guidelines.

The study found that compliance to internationally approved standards improved from 30.7% to 63.3% after a memoir was printed on a simple A4 sheet, that reminded members of the interdisciplinary staff of the importance of a risk assessment of patients.

The memoir included a list of risk factors, and medicines that should be administrated to patients at risk.

Simple measures to prevent this disease include encouraging mobility of hospitalized patients. Factors which can prompt physicians to consider preventive treatment, include major surgery, multiple trauma, hip fracture, or lower extremity paralysis because of spinal cord injury.

Additional risk factors, such as increasing age, cardiac or respiratory failure, prolonged immobility, presence of central venous lines and a wide variety of inherited and acquired conditions, contribute to an increased risk for VTE.

According to the study - authored by Stephanie Azzopardi, Sarah Busuttil and John Cordina - a centralized and organized approach could produce even greater levels of compliance.