Determination of Venous Thromboembolism Risk and Nursing Practices in Patients Hospitalized in Medical Services

Determination of Venous Thromboembolism Risk and Nursing Practices in Patients Hospitalized in Medical Services in a Tertiary University Hospital: Point Prevalence Study

Together with individual predisposition to form vascular clots and clinical conditions that further increase this risk, venous thromboembolism (VTE) poses a significant additional morbidity and mortality risk for the majority of the world's population. Although VTE causes serious disability and death when undiagnosed, it is a medical condition that can be prevented when diagnosed early. Although all hospitalized patients are at risk of DVT, studies have shown that 75% of hospitalized patients are hospitalized in internal clinics.As a result of this observational study, it was aimed to determine the VTE risk levels of the patients from the time of hospitalization and to determine preventive nursing care for VTE.

Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) refers to interrelated diagnoses such as Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and Pulmonary Embolism (PE). 10-20% of venous thromboembolic events occur in medical patients and 10-80% in intensive care patients. Recognized as a major complication for medical and surgical patients, VTE has been described as the 'silent killer' of hospitalized patients. During the Covid-19 pandemic in recent years, high rates of thrombolytic events have been reported in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Nurses have an important role in identifying risk factors for VTE, taking precautions and assessing patient compliance with these precautions. The nurse should identify risk factors in the preoperative period, long-term and intensive care hospitalizations by taking a comprehensive history and physical assessment of the patient before hospitalization. There are several risk assessment models developed to assess the risk of VTE for application to inpatient medical patients. There are various risk assessment models developed for application to inpatient medical patients. Padua and IMPROVE VTE risk assessment models are frequently used. In the literature, it is stated that the Padua model gives moderate results and the IMPROVE model gives moderate-good results in predicting risk (1). Therefore, risk levels were not determined with the IMPROVE risk assessment tool in this study.

Inclusion Criteria:

• To be conscious,
• Consent of the patient's relatives to participate in the study in unconscious patients
• 24 hours have passed since hospitalization
• The patient admitted to hospitalization has been pre-assessed by the nurse and the pre-assessment form and nurse observation form have been completed

Exclusion Criteria:

• Surgical patients
• Pregnant patients
• Refusing to participate in the study during the completion of the data collection forms.
• In unconscious patients, the patient's relatives did not give consent to participate in the study
• Unconscious patient whose relatives cannot be reached
• The patient admitted to hospitalization was not pre-assessed by the nurse and the pre-assessment form and nurse observation form were not filled out