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Abstract Aim To identify compliance with mandatory VTE assessment on admission and its re-assessment for General surgery (GS) inpatients at a District General Hospital. Method All adult patients (≥18 years) admitted under the General Surgery department from 21/08/2023 to 25/08/2023 were included. Patients admitted due to long stays following elective surgery with any operative approach were also included. The patient’s VTE assessment charts were reviewed for 24 hours. This was done to identify if an assessment was completed within 14 hours of admission and reassessment after 24 hours. Results 40 patients were included in the audit. Admission Assessment ResultsN=24/40 did not have a tick in either 'no contraindication' or 'contraindication' boxesN=11/24 did not have any tick in 'risk factors’ or bleeding risk' boxesN=20/40 had no documentation of date, time, name, or signature 24hr Later Assessment ResultsN=6/40 patient had re-assessment100% of patients who had reassessment had either 'continue' or 'change' ticked Conclusions Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a frequent disease affecting more than 1 in 12 individuals during their lifetime. VTE is associated with long-term complications such as recurrence, post-thrombotic, and post-pulmonary embolism syndrome. Despite VTE prophylaxis being administered for patients, documentation of risk factors and contraindications for VTE prophylaxis administration was poor. The worst performing areas were VTE re-assessment 24 hrs after admission and indicating if there is 'no contraindication' or 'contraindication' to VTE-prophylaxis on admission. It is important to stay vigilant and check the assessment during ward rounds. Adherence to VTE assessment still needs to be studied at a later date.
Patel et al. (Mon,) studied this question.