[Effect of the implementation of a guideline for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in surgical patients].

Introduction: Effective strategies for prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) are widely available, but still remain underused, mainly in our country.

Objective: Our aim was to verify whether the implementation of a guideline for VTE prophylaxis for surgical patients influenced the prescription of prophylaxis by the medical staff.

Methods: This was a retrospective preintervention-postintervention study.