Evaluation of deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis in a general hospital.

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a cause for growing concern in hospitals, has great impact on morbidity and mortality in clinical and surgical patients, and is the leading cause of preventable hospital deaths. Although there are risk assessment models for hospital inpatients, prophylaxis is still underused or is administered incorrectly.

Objectives: To assess the risk profile for VTE in recently hospitalized clinical and surgical patients and evaluate the thromboprophylactic measures implemented in the first 24 hours of hospitalization.