Increasing venous thromboembolism risk assessment through a whole hospital-based intervention: a pre-post service evaluation to demonstrate quality improvement.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a primary cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. VTE risk assessment is a crucial part of the VTE prevention guideline. However, VTE risk assessment was not consistently undertaken for admitted patients. The aim of this study was to identify whether a quality improvement project implemented to change documentation of VTE risk assessment for hospitalized patients impacted patient safety by decreasing the rate of VTE incidences. The study was set in a 600+ bed acute hospital that provides medical and surgical services for adult patients during the period October 2018-September 2020. The hospital adopted the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) 9th edition VTE prevention guidelines and followed the Modified Caprini risk assessment tool. Following the FOCUS-Plan-Do-Check-Act (FOCUS PDCA) improvement methodology, the improvement team implemented multicomponent interventions over a 3-month period, including conducting educational sessions, sharing VTE documentation compliance results, giving reminders during rounds, assigning a VTE liaison physician within each clinical specialty, and updating and communicating the hospital adopted VTE guidelines. A total of 17 612 patients were included, respectively, 8971 in pre-intervention and 8641 post-intervention period. Documentation of VTE risk assessment upon admission increased significantly in the post quality improvement intervention period (60% vs. 42%, relative increase of 30%, χ2 = 1.43, P < 0.001). The run chart trend analysis demonstrated significant improvement shift and improvement trend after quality improvement project implementation, and it was sustained for 15 months. There was no impact on patient safety with a slight not statistically significant decrease in the VTE incidences rate post intervention period (0.4% vs. 0.5%, relative decrease of 1%, χ2 = 0.82, P < 0.397). The quality improvement project intervention significantly increased the percentage of patients assessed for VTE risk in a hospital setting.

Physicians' perceptions and preferences for implementing venous thromboembolism (VTE) clinical practice guidelines: a qualitative study using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF).

BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism is a primary cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalised patients. Clinical practice guidelines were developed to prevent venous thromboembolism events. This study adopted the Theoretical Domains Framework to explore the beliefs and perceptions of physicians adoption of clinical practice guidelines for the uptake of venous thromboembolism prevention guidelines. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a stratified purposive sample of internal medicine physicians in an acute hospital. The interview topic guide was developed using the Theoretical Domains Framework to identify the factors perceived to influence the practice. Two researchers coded the interview transcripts using thematic content analysis. Emerging relevant themes were mapped to TDF domains. RESULTS: A total of sixteen medical physicians were interviewed over a six-month period. Nine theoretical domains derived from thirty-three belief statements were identified as relevant to the target behaviour; knowledge (education about the importance of VTE guidelines); beliefs about capabilities (with practice VTE tool easier to implement); beliefs about consequences (positive consequences in reducing the development of VTE, length of stay, financial burden and support physician decision) and (negative consequence risk of bleeding); reinforcement (recognition and continuous reminders); goals (patient safety goal); environmental context and resources (workload and availability of medications were barriers, VTE coordinator and electronic medical record were enablers); social influences (senior physicians and patient/family influence the VTE practice); behavioural regulation (monitoring and mandatory hospital policy); and nature of the behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: Using the Theoretical Domains Framework, factors thought to influence the implementation of VTE clinical practice guidelines were identified which can be used to design theoretically based interventions by targeting specific psychological constructs and linking them to behaviour change techniques to change the clinical practice of physicians.

Prevention of health care associated venous thromboembolism through implementing VTE prevention clinical practice guidelines in hospitalized medical patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Numerous VTE prevention clinical practice guidelines are available but not consistently implemented. This systematic review explored effectiveness of implementing VTE prevention clinical practice guidelines on VTE risk assessment and appropriateness of prophylaxis in hospitalized adult medical patients and identified the interventions followed to improve the adherence to these guidelines. METHODS: Six electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials, clinical controlled trials, or pre/post evaluation studies up to January 2019. Studies identified were screened for eligibility by two reviewers independently. Data were extracted by two reviewers using a standardized form. Risk of bias was assessed using MINORS and the certainty of evidence for each outcome using the GRADE approach. RESULTS: Of the 3537 records identified, 36 were eligible; eight studies were included for qualitative synthesis and four for meta-analysis. The meta-analysis of the studies assessing the impact of implementing VTE clinical practice guidelines favored appropriate prophylaxis (RR 1.67, 95% CI 1.41 to 1.97, 552 patients). Potential risk of bias was assessed to be low for 28% of the studies. However, using GRADE, the certainty of the evidence of all outcomes was rated very low quality. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of randomized controlled trials in this area reduces the quality of the evidence available. The evidence from before-after studies suggests that the implementation of VTE clinical practice guidelines may increase the practice of VTE risk assessment and appropriate prophylaxis in hospitalized medical patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42018085506.