Achieving durable compliance with venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in bariatric surgery: 3-year data from a major academic medical center.

BACKGROUND: Metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) venous thromboembolism (VTE) prescribing practices vary widely. Our institutional VTE prophylaxis protocol has historically been unstandardized. OBJECTIVES: To create a standardized MBS VTE prophylaxis protocol, track protocol compliance, and identify barriers to protocol compliance and address them with Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. SETTING: Single Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program-accredited academic hospital. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study for all patients undergoing MBS (January 2019 to September 2022). A multidisciplinary group of bariatric clinicians reviewed literature and developed the following standardized VTE prophylaxis protocol: 5000 units preoperative subcutaneous (SC) heparin within 60 minutes of anesthesia induction and postoperative 40 mg SC low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) within 24 hours of surgery. This protocol was distributed to relevant clinical stakeholders. We assessed monthly compliance rates through chart review. Goal compliance was ≥90%. We identified sources of noncompliance and addressed them with PDSA methodology. RESULTS: A total of 796 patients were included. Preoperative heparin administration increased from a mean of 47% (107/228) preintervention to 96% (545/568) postintervention (P < .0001), and postoperative LMWH administration increased from 71% (47/66) to 96% (573/597, P = .0002). These compliance rates were sustained for 3 years. Barriers to protocol noncompliance included order set timing errors (n = 45), surgeon error (n = 44), surgeon discretion (n = 40), and nursing error (n = 20). No change in bleeding or VTE rates was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Developing a standardized VTE prophylaxis protocol, monitoring process measures, and engaging relevant stakeholders in PDSA cycles resulted in drastic and durable improvement in VTE prophylaxis compliance rates.

Sustained decrease in urine culture utilization after implementing a reflex urine culture intervention: A multicenter quasi-experimental study.

Accurately diagnosing urinary tract infections (UTIs) in hospitalized patients remains challenging, requiring correlation of frequently nonspecific symptoms and laboratory findings. Urine cultures (UCs) are often ordered indiscriminately, especially in patients with urinary catheters, despite the Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines recommending against routine screening for asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB).1,2 Positive UCs can be difficult for providers to ignore, leading to unnecessary antibiotic treatment of ASB.2,3 Using diagnostic stewardship to limit UCs to situations with a positive urinalysis (UA) can reduce inappropriate UCs since the absence of pyuria suggests the absence of infection.4-6 We assessed the impact of the implementation of a UA with reflex to UC algorithm ("reflex intervention") on UC ordering practices, diagnostic efficiency, and UTIs using a quasi-experimental design.