Effect of Implementing Nursing Care Guidelines on the Occurrence of Deep Vein Thrombosis among Orthopedic Patients

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary embolism is the main cause of mortalities in lower limb Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT). It leads to yearly 50-200 thousand deaths in the United States (US). Hence, DVT is an important condition that needs to be considered for the safe care of hospitalized patients to avoid related morbidities and mortalities Aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of implementing nursing care guidelines on the occurrence of deep vein thrombosis among orthopedic patients Method; causal comparative research design used in carrying out this study that was conducted at orthopedic departments of Mansoura Emergency Hospital. A convenience sample of participants was used over a period of 6 months who correspond to inclusion criteria. Tools used for data collection in this study consisted of three tools as the following; first tool; composed of three parts, socio-demographic characteristics, DVTrisk factors scale ,and : Patient medical data. The second tool is concerned with assessment of nurses' performance regarding application of DVT preventive guidelines; and the third tool is Deep vein thrombosis evaluation sheet. Results: The present study revealed that the intervention is beneficial in terms of patient outcomes, with significantly lower DVT risk grade and score compared with the control group patients and improving the nurses performance regarding the application of DVT preventive guidelines Conclusion; implementing the designed nursing guidelines for DVT prevention decrease the incidence of DVT in the group followed by guidelines Recommendation: continued nursing education about deep vein thrombosis prevention among orthopedic patients for nurses recommended to be organized regularly.