Physician's and nurse's use af mechanical prophylactic method to prevent deep vein thrombosis and determining factors

This study was conducted as a descriptive study in order to determine the physicians' and nurses' use of mechanical prophylactic method to prevent deep vein thrombosis and determining factors. The study was conducted with 303 nurses and 264 physicians working in the Surgery/Internal Clinics/Intensive Care Units of Ankara University Medical Faculty Hospitals between 7 December 2020 and 1 February 2021. "Nurse/Physician Data Collection Forms" developed by the researchers using the literature were used to collect the data. Number, percentage distribution, Mann Whitney-U, and Kruskal Wallis-H tests were used in the analysis of the data. In our study, it was determined that the most commonly used mechanical prophylactic method in clinics was antiembolic stockings (physician 78.7%, nurse 79.7%), the rate of use of other methods was very low, the mechanical prophylactic method was decided by the physician and there was no guide/protocol for the use of the mechanical prophylactic method. It was determined that 70.6% of the nurses did not receive training on mechanical prophylactic methods and they had difficulties related to patient noncompliance (38.9%), correct application (27.9%), failure to follow-up (20.0%), and hospital procedure (13.2%), and these challenges found to occur that due to the workload (32.2%), the lack of personnel (25.9%), and the lack of education (23.6%). Physicians stated that they decided on the mechanical prophylactic methods to be used for patients according to the routine practice used in the clinic (20.2%) and ease of use (19.0%), the nurses stated that it was determined by the risk assessment of the patient (28.8%), the routine practice used in the clinic (21.1%) and the physician who undertook the treatment of the patient (20.7%). It was determined that nurses' knowledge score averages regarding the use of mechanical prophylactic method were at the lower limit of the intermediate level(45.80±20.88). Factors determining the use of mechanical prophylactic method; routine applications in the clinic, ease of application, suitability for the patient, risk assessment, the material available in the clinics, the preference of the physician and the surgical procedure. It is recommended to carry out practices to increase the knowledge and awareness levels of physicians and nurses regarding the use of mechanical prophylactic methods, and to use guidelines/protocols in clinics.