Annie Coffey is a 72 year old woman that has developed a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) due to reduced mobility while on bed rest. This assignment will discuss the signs, symptoms, prevention and management of a DVT and the use of warfarin as long term treatment. The assignment will explain what a DVT is and discuss its potential implications. The nurse’s role in the prevention of DVTs will be discussed in detail as well as the nursing management of Annie. The importance of patient education will be highlighted throughout the assignment and important discharge advice while on warfarin will be explained.
A DVT is a thrombus or blood clot that most commonly occurs in deep veins in the leg or pelvis. DVTs usually start distally in the veins of
Information about the patient that should be taken into account when predicting if a DVT is present or not includes, their concurrent illnesses and medication, medical and surgical history and demographic characteristics (Bonner and Johnson, 2014).
On admission, nurses should assess all patients to identify who are at increased risk of venous thromboembolism and who aren’t. Nurses should regard patients as at risk if they have had, or, are expected to have significant reduced mobility for 3days or more. Surgical patients should also be regarded as being at increased risk of venous thromboembolism if they have a surgical procedure that lasts longer than 90minutes while under total anaesthetic or 60minutes if the procedure involves the pelvis or lower limbs (NICE, 2010). Although venous thromboembolisms are a significant health problem amongst the public, they are highly preventable. Fondaparinux sodium, low molecular weight heparin and unfractionated heparin are examples of pharmacological VTE prophylaxis that nurses can offer to patients who are at increased risk of venous thromboembolisms. The basis of using a DVT prophylaxis is to target predisposing factors such as venous stasis, vein wall trauma and hyper-coagulability. Pharmacological venous thromboembolism prophylaxis should be