Preventing thromboembolism after surgery using a patient and procedure specific approach to thromboembolism risk assessment and prevention, in cancer surgery patients.

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Blood - Clotting disorders; Postoperative thromboembolism; Postoperative bleeding; Cancer; Surgery - Other surgery; Anaesthesiology - Other anaesthesiology; Cancer - Any cancer

• Registration Number: ACTRN12619000812190
• Lead Sponsor: Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Brief Summary

Blood clots (thromboembolisms) are a leading cause of preventable death after surgery. Preventing blood clots is a "patient safety priority", however drugs used to prevent blood clots after surgery can result in increased risk of bleeding. We designed the surgical thromboembolism prevention quality improvement program (STEP-QIP), which aimed to reduce the incidence of blood clots after surgery using a protocol - the surgical thromboembolism prevention (STEP) protocol. The program was implemented over four stages. 24,952 surgical admissions were assessed between June 2013 and March 2018. Compliance with the surgical thromboembolism prevention protocol increased to 91% by the final implementation stage. Before implementing the STEP-QIP, the rates of blood clots after surgery were 3.1 per 1,000 surgical admissions. By the end of the study, the rate of blood clots after surgery reduced by 79%, or 0.6 per 1,000 surgical admissions. Bleeding rates after surgery also reduced by 15%, but this was not statistically significant. The STEP-QIP showed a reduction in thromboembolism events after surgery without increasing bleeding rates in a high-risk cancer population. This flexible approach demonstrated significant effectiveness that can be translated to surgical populations at other institutions.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Results First Posted: 1900-01-01
• Study Completion: 2019-04-26
• Study Start: 2019-06-04
• Last Update Posted: 15 July 2019

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 24953

Inclusion Criteria

All surgical oncology admissions to our institutions. No exclusions.

Exclusion Criteria

No exclusion criteria

Study & Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Study Design: Not specified