Multi-centered Discharge Alert to Prevent DVT and PE at Hospital Discharge

BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is often avoidable in hospitalized patients because proven prevention strategies have been established for patients at risk (1). North American and European prophylaxis guidelines have been widely disseminated. However, despite focus on strategies for the prevention of VTE in hospitalized patients at the time of admission to the hospital, there has been little focus on prevention of VTE at the time of discharge from the hospital (2,3).

At Brigham and Women's Hospital, we undertook a previous Quality Improvement Initiative (BWH protocol # 2000P000328) aimed at increasing the frequency of VTE prophylaxis in high risk patients. This novel strategy required: 1) devising a risk score that reliably and quickly identified patients at high risk of VTE, and 2) randomizing high-risk patients without prophylaxis into an intervention group or control group. The intervention group's physicians received a single electronic, computerized alert explaining that the patient was at high risk, was not receiving prophylaxis, and suggesting that prophylaxis be ordered from a template of available pharmacological and mechanical options. In contrast, the control group's physicians received no alert (4).

Each of 8 common risk factors was weighted according to a point scale. To be labeled as "high-risk" for VTE, the point score must equal or exceed 4 points.

There were 2,506 patients in the Quality Improvement Initiative: 1,255 in the intervention group and 1,251 in the control group. The incidence of symptomatic VTE at 90 days was high: 8.2% in the control group and 4.9% in the intervention group (4).