Venous thromboprophylaxis risk assessment amongst gynaecological patients in a tertiary health institution, South West Nigeria

Abstract

Venous Thromboembolism (VTE), is a major health concern that has continued to pose a challenge to clinicians. It is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in our environment. In recent years there has been renewed attention on the need for thromboprophylaxis to prevent VTE and its consequences. This is a prospective study carried out on the gynaecological in patients of Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso. This study involved the use of a questionnaire with the details of the Caprini score in assessing patients. Our study revealed that 83 (58.5%) patients had low risk for VTE while 55 (38.7%) had moderate risk for VTE. Only 4 (2.8%) of participants had a high risk for VTE and none of the gynaecological patients could be classified as very low risk according to the Caprini index. There is a need to train and retrain health care givers on the importance of thromboprophylaxis. This training should include the development of local protocols similar to international guidelines meeting the local needs, this will go a long way to ensure it is user friendly to healthcare workers.