Characteristics of the included studies
| Study | Design | Intervention type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scaglione (2005) | CBA | Education only | Hospital-wide VTE prophylaxis guideline implementation |
| Piazza (2012) | CBA | Education only | Pharmacist led patient education intervention to improve administration rates of VTE prophylaxis |
| Liu (2012) | CBA | Paper | Standardised paper based medication chart, was incorporated in Australian public hospitals |
| O'Connor (2009) | CBA | Paper | VTE prophylaxis order set for admitting medically ill patients |
| Fontaine (2006) | RCT | Paper | VTE prophylaxis prescription aids |
| Streiff (2012) | CBA | Paper | Paper based order set for admitting surgical patients |
| Lesselroth (2011) | CBA | Computerised | Clinical decision support order menu in computerised patient record system |
| Beeler (2011) | CCT | Computerised | Electronic alert displayed in chart of medically ill patients with documented risk but no prophylaxis order within 6 h of admission |
| Kucher (2005) | RCT | Computerised | Electronic alert to providers of patients at risk for developing VTE who were not prescribed prophylaxis |
| Haut (2012) | CBA | Computerised | Mandatory, computerised clinical decision support enabled VTE risk stratification order set was implemented in the computerised provider order entry system |
| Piazza (2009) | RCT | Real time audit and feedback | Real time alert to the attending physicians of patients at high risk of VTE who are not receiving prophylaxis |
| Mahan (2012) | CBA | Real time audit and feedback | Pharmacists prospectively reviewed patients’ medical records to determine risk factors for VTE and the current prescribed prophylaxis. When the prophylaxis prescription was inadequate for their risk level, the pharmacist alerted the attending physician (in person or via telephone communication) |
| Clark (2011) | CBA | Combination | Clinical guideline implemented using a multidisciplinary team and multimodal strategy involving education, information technology, verbal and written reminders, and with frequent optimisation based on feedback from end users |
| Gallagher (2009) | CBA | Combination | Education and a printed hospital-wide risk assessment tool incorporated into routine clinical practice with VTE related feedback to clinicians |
| Stinnett (2005) | CBA | Combination | Education and a combination VTE prevention tool, including a VTE risk stratification scheme, and a standard admission order form that presented optimal VTE prevention regimens. |
| Maynard (2010) | CBA | Combination | Computerised risk assessment form linked to preferred VTE prophylaxis options with quarterly educational sessions, and feedback to the clinical staff when audits indicated that their patient was prescribed inadequate prophylaxis |
CBA, controlled before/after; CCT, non-randomised controlled clinical trial; RCT, randomised controlled trial; VTE, venous thromboembolism.