• Ramy Masroujeh, Wael Shamseddeen, Hussain Isma'eel, Zaher K Otrock, Ismail M Khalil, and Ali Taher.
• Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, P.O. Box 11-0236, Riad El Solh, Beirut, 1107 2020, Lebanon.
• J. Thromb. Thrombolysis. 2008 Oct 1;26(2):138-41.

BackgroundNew recommendations concerning the use of prophylactic anticoagulation for medically ill patients have been in use for some time now. This study aims at assessing how much house-staff in a tertiary care setting are implementing these new recommendations in the hope that through quantitative analysis of the deficiency we would be able to identify areas of weakness.MethodsAbout 250 patients were randomly selected from all patients admitted to the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) during the year 2005 and stayed more than 48 h. The risk factor profiles, contraindications to thromboprophylaxis, if present, and whether these patients received the appropriate VTE pharmacologic prophylaxis during their stay in hospital were recorded.ResultsAbout 139 patients were found to have two or more risk factors, with no absolute contraindications. About 37 patients (26.6%) received VTE prophylaxis. Upon reviewing the risk factors profile, the majority of patients (71.3%) were found to have 2-4 risk factors. Among risk factors studied, age > 40 years, admission to ICU, prior VTE, chronic lung disease, infection, respiratory failure, and central venous catheter were significantly associated with receiving prophylaxis.ConclusionsVTE prophylaxis is underutilized at AUBMC, a tertiary care teaching hospital in the Middle East. Critical care patients were being acceptably anti-coagulated, whereas cancer patients are doing the worst.

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