National Prescribing Curriculum
Prevention of venous thromboembolism
Consider appropriate venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention for a hospital inpatient.
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Cost: free
About
The National Prescribing Curriculum (NPC) is a series of interactive case-based modules that encourage confident and rational prescribing. The modules follow a stepwise approach as outlined in the WHO's Guide to Good Prescribing.
In this module you will consider appropriate venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention for a hospital inpatient. This is an important issue to learn about, as despite available options for prevention, VTE (encompassing deep venous thrombosis [DVT] and pulmonary embolism [PE]) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality for inpatients of Australian hospitals. An estimated 2000 people die each year from VTE, and many of these cases are preventable.
Learning objectives
On completion of this module, you should be able to:
- Identify patient factors that increase the risk of developing VTE.
- Determine patient factors that increase the risk of bleeding.
- Describe non-pharmacological options for VTE prevention.
- Recall the therapeutic options for prevention of VTE.
- Identify resources to guide decision making regarding VTE prevention.