Compliance with recommended prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism: improving the use and rate of uptake of clinical practice guidelines

Although several authoritative, evidence-based, guidelines for the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) have been published, the use of VTE prophylaxis in routine clinical practice varies markedly. Even in orthopedic surgery, the indication for which prophylaxis is used most often, a significant proportion of surgeons do not use routine prophylaxis. When prophylaxis is used, guideline recommendations are often not followed. A number of …