Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis: A Survey among the Medical Staff of Intensive Care Unit and Surgery Ward in Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Background: Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis is underutilized in India. This study was designed to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practices of healthcare providers towards VTE prophylaxis in a teaching hospital in Pune. Methods: Knowledge, attitude and practices was assessed by a 10-item questionnaire filled by healthcare providers in intensive care unit and surgery ward of tertiary care teaching hospital. Nine out of 10 questions were multiple-choice type and one was open ended. Results: Out of 60 questionnaires distributed, 40 were completed and returned. Out of 40, 22 (55%) were from ICU/HDU (Intensive Care Unit/High Dependency Unit) and 18 (45%) were from surgery. Although most of the 40(100%) of the respondent agreed that VTE prophylaxis was clinically important but only 85% (34/40) had actually prescribed it themselves. Among the responder in ICU/ HDU it was found that routine prophylaxis was claimed by 18(81%) of respondent while in prolonged surgery and post-operative it was 12(54.54%). 36.36% of non-prescriber in ICU and 22.22% in surgery thought that DVT prophylaxis is not relevant to their setup or have very low risk of DVT. In ICU as per respondents 27.27% patients may develop VTE after discharge and around 45.45% are unable to answer the question. In surgery as per respondents 11.11% patients may develop VTE after discharge and around 77.77% are unable to answer the question. Conclusion: Knowledge and practices of healthcare providers about VTE prophylaxis in hospitalized patients is less than ideal. Hospitals need to arrange sensitization lectures for the awareness of VTE Scoring, prophylaxis in ICU/HDU, Surgery and to develop their own guidelines for VTE prophylaxis.