International Journal of Nursing Education

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Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Prophylaxis: Awareness or Ignorance amongst Staff Personnel


Affiliations
1 Department of Anaesthesia & Critical Care, India
2 JPNA Trauma Centre, AIIMS and Prof. & Head Department of Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi -110029, India
     

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Back Ground Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is still an underestimated complication in trauma patients. Only 10 percent of individuals who require DVT prophylaxis receive it; the remaining 90 percent of individuals are deprived of DVT prophylaxis because of ignorance and lack of awareness. Aims&Objectives • To assess awareness in hospital staff (nurses and doctors) regarding DVT and its prophylaxis using 14 point Questionnaire • To assess patient comfort with the DVT pump Methodology A 14 point Questionnaire was randomly distributed to 100 staff personnel who included doctors of various disciplines and nurses of wards and intensive care units of multispecialty tertiary trauma centre. Results were evaluated and studied. Observations and Results 100% of personnel's were aware that DVT pump was useful. The compliance of using DVT pump while at work was 0- 30%, 30-60% and 60-100% in 6%, 28% and 66% staff respectively. The reason for noncompliance in 36% staff members was busy schedule and 32% staff stated that they were not advised by the treating physician.4% personnel's had doubt regarding the site of application of DVT pump. 72% staff believed that DVT cannot occur in upper limb and 8% stated that DVT pump cannot be applied on single limb. 6% mentioned that it cannot be used in hemodynamically unstable patients while 2% stated that it cannot be used in patients on ventilator. 36% of staff was not aware that fracture pelvis and spine are high risk for DVT. 6% believed that with low molecular heparin prophylaxis DVT pump is not required even in high risk patients. 24% patients complained that DVT pump was uncomfortable. Conclusions Despite the availability of resources for DVT prophylaxis, there is still ignorance regards its use in medics and paramedics. There is a need to increase the awareness of DVT, individual's risk factors and triggering events so that we can reduce the number of patients that die every year from DVT and its complications.

Keywords

Deep Vein Thrombosis, Dvt, Awareness.
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  • Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Prophylaxis: Awareness or Ignorance amongst Staff Personnel

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Authors

Manpreet Kaur
Department of Anaesthesia & Critical Care, India
Komal Yadav
Department of Anaesthesia & Critical Care, India
Vikas Yadav
Department of Anaesthesia & Critical Care, India
Babita Gupta
Department of Anaesthesia & Critical Care, India
Sangamitra Kamble
Department of Anaesthesia & Critical Care, India
M. C. Misra
JPNA Trauma Centre, AIIMS and Prof. & Head Department of Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi -110029, India

Abstract


Back Ground Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is still an underestimated complication in trauma patients. Only 10 percent of individuals who require DVT prophylaxis receive it; the remaining 90 percent of individuals are deprived of DVT prophylaxis because of ignorance and lack of awareness. Aims&Objectives • To assess awareness in hospital staff (nurses and doctors) regarding DVT and its prophylaxis using 14 point Questionnaire • To assess patient comfort with the DVT pump Methodology A 14 point Questionnaire was randomly distributed to 100 staff personnel who included doctors of various disciplines and nurses of wards and intensive care units of multispecialty tertiary trauma centre. Results were evaluated and studied. Observations and Results 100% of personnel's were aware that DVT pump was useful. The compliance of using DVT pump while at work was 0- 30%, 30-60% and 60-100% in 6%, 28% and 66% staff respectively. The reason for noncompliance in 36% staff members was busy schedule and 32% staff stated that they were not advised by the treating physician.4% personnel's had doubt regarding the site of application of DVT pump. 72% staff believed that DVT cannot occur in upper limb and 8% stated that DVT pump cannot be applied on single limb. 6% mentioned that it cannot be used in hemodynamically unstable patients while 2% stated that it cannot be used in patients on ventilator. 36% of staff was not aware that fracture pelvis and spine are high risk for DVT. 6% believed that with low molecular heparin prophylaxis DVT pump is not required even in high risk patients. 24% patients complained that DVT pump was uncomfortable. Conclusions Despite the availability of resources for DVT prophylaxis, there is still ignorance regards its use in medics and paramedics. There is a need to increase the awareness of DVT, individual's risk factors and triggering events so that we can reduce the number of patients that die every year from DVT and its complications.

Keywords


Deep Vein Thrombosis, Dvt, Awareness.

References