Nursing care in the prevention of venous thromboembolism: an integrative review

Abstract

This study sought to identify in the scientific literature the nursing care provided for the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in hospitalized patients. It is an integrative review of the literature conducted in the Public/Publish Medline (PUBMED) and Virtual Health Library (VHL) databases. The studies included in this review were in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and published between 2006 and 2016. They addressed nursing care in the prevention of VTE in hospitalized patients. The studies were located by cross-referencing the terms "nursing care", "prevention" and "venous thromboembolism. The predominating topics were nursing care in the prevention of VTE, categorized under “implementing VTE risk assessment”, “mechanical and physical interventions”, and “educating patients on VTE”.  These findings may contribute to the systematization of nursing care by expanding and directing care possibilities, favoringnurses’ autonomy, and supporting research to validate and reinforce vascular nursing as a specialityarea.