We are pleased to announce that the National
Association of Managed Care Physicians (NAMCP), the American Association of
Managed Care Nurses (AAMCN), and the American Board of Managed Care Nurses (ABMCN) have
recently
joined the Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis (DVT) to raise
awareness of this serious medical condition among consumers, healthcare
professionals, government and public health leaders. The Coalition
objectives include: the need to prevent DVT; the actions to help achieve
better diagnosis; the steps required to reduce DVT prevalence and incidence,
and the ways to inspire government, healthcare leaders, and policy-makers to
make DVT a national healthcare priority. According to a national survey
conducted by the American Public Health Association (APHA), 74 percent of
adults surveyed had little or no awareness of DVT. Therefore it is
critically important to leverage DVT as a national healthcare priority.
DVT Awareness Month
DVT Awareness Month
is a multi-faceted program aimed at
raising awareness of this commonly occurring medical condition.
According to the American Heart Association, up to 2 million
Americans are affected annually by DVT. Of those who develop
pulmonary embolism (PE), a complication of DVT, 60,000-200,000 will
die, which is more than from breast cancer, AIDS and highway
fatalities. With proper medical care, the condition can be prevented
and treated.
On behalf of the Coalition, we would like to
announce the launch of DVT Awareness Month in March 2004 to drive this
effort. DVT Awareness Month is a multi-faceted
program aimed at raising awareness of this commonly occurring medical
condition. According to the American Heart Association, up to 2 million
Americans are affected annually by DVT. Of those who develop pulmonary
embolism (PE), a complication of DVT, 60,000-200,000 will die, which is more
than from breast cancer, AIDS and highway fatalities. With proper medical
care, the condition can be prevented and treated.
You can make a difference in preventing DVT by
doing the following:
-
Assess your patient for his/her risk of
developing DVT/PE upon admission into a hospital, long-term care facility
or nursing home, and periodically from
then on.
-
Assess primary risk factors in your patients
such as; advanced age, obesity, acute medical illness, patients undergoing
major orthopedic surgery (such as joint replacements) who remain immobile
in bed after an operation, pregnancy, restricted mobility caused by
long-distance travel and paralysis.
-
Document the DVT/PE risk assessment and
prevention plan in your patient’s records.
-
Institute explicit policy and procedures for
the prevention of DVT/PE. According to the National Quality Forum (NQF)
safety guidelines, effective clinical interventions to prevent DVT/PE
include intermittent calf compression devices, graduated compression
stockings, subcutaneous administration of low molecular weight heparin and
oral administration of aspirin or warfarin.
About the Coalition
In February 2003, more than 60 organizations
assembled at the Public Health Leadership Conference on Deep-Vein Thrombosis
in Washington, D.C. to discuss the urgent need to make DVT a top public
health priority in the United States. At this meeting which was co-hosted
by the APHA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
participants agreed to establish a Coalition of organizations committed to
educating the public and healthcare community about DVT and the importance
of recognizing risk factors and implementing preventive measures early to
help save lives. One of the outcomes of this meeting was the decision to
develop a White Paper entitled “Deep-Vein Thrombosis: Advancing Awareness
to Protect Patient Lives,” which was sponsored by the APHA. The paper
describes the scope of the problem, risk factors, barriers and prevention.
The mission of the Coalition to Prevent
Deep-Vein Thrombosis is:
To reduce the immediate and long-term dangers of
deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), which together
comprise one of the nation’s leading causes of death. The Coalition will
educate the public, healthcare professionals and policy-makers about risk
factors, symptoms and signs associated with DVT as well as identify
evidence-based measures to prevent morbidity and mortality from DVT and PE.
We hope you will participate in this important
educational campaign. Please log onto
www.preventdvt.org to
obtain additional information. The DVT Awareness Month campaign is
sponsored by the Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis and supported by
an unrestricted educational grant from Aventis.