Surgery Patients Whose Doctors Ordered Treatments to Prevent Blood Clots (Venous Thromboembolism) for Certain Types of Surgeries

What Does This Measure?

The percentage of eligible patients whose doctors ordered treatments to prevent blood clots for certain types of surgeries.

Why Is This Important?

Patients sometimes develop blood clots after they undergo surgery. This can limit blood flow and even cause a potentially fatal lung condition called pulmonary embolism.

Treatment to prevent blood clots may include blood thinning medications, elastic support stockings, or mechanical air stockings that promote circulation in the legs.

What Are We Doing to Improve Our Performance?

Duke has enacted several initiatives to improve our performance. These include:

• Evidence-based medicine
• Blood clot prevention protocols (standardized order sets)
• Patient rounding
• Computerized physician order entry (CPOE)
• Electronic medical records (EMR)
• Six Sigma and DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control process) methodologies
• Nursing and physician education
• Patient safety and clinical quality committees
• Patient advocacy and support groups
• Surgery-specific patient education and instructions
  
• Surgical Care Improvement Project Team

More Information

• See more surgery quality measures
• See all performance measures
• Compare Duke to other North Carolina hospitals at NC Hospital Quality Report
• Compare Duke to regional and national hospitals at Hospital Quality Alliance's Hospital Compare