Utilization rates of enoxaparin and heparin in deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis after education and electronic order change at a single institution: a quality improvement study

Despite advantages of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), enoxaparin over heparin (UFH) for venous thromboembolism (VTE), a hospital’s prescribing trends analysis showed use of each was about equal. In an attempt to increase LMWH over UFH use, electronic medical record (EMR) changes for medical service patients and education via multidisciplinary grand rounds was provided to all services. This was a unique opportunity to study LMWH and UFH use pre and post interventions at our institution. Citrix Pharmacy data was extracted for 3 months pre and post intervention (August 2016–February 2017). Inclusion criteria were age > 18 and LMWH or UFH VTE prophylaxis. Exclusion criteria were one time or duplicate orders and VTE treatment doses. Primary endpoint was hospital services VTE use with focus on medicine service which had both interventions compared to single intervention among all other services. LMWH use increased from 51 to 57.3% (p < 0.001) and UFH use decreased from 49 to 42.7% (p < 0.001) for all services. For medicine service, LMWH use increased 52.5–59.6% (p < 0.001) and UFH use decreased 47.5–40.4% (p < 0.001). For other services, LMWH use increased 48.8–53.6% (p = 0.005) and UFH use decreased 51.2–46.4% (p = 0.005). EMR changes and prescribers’ grand rounds education resulted in 7.1% increase of LMWH use for medicine and 4.8% increase for all other services. The net increase (95% CI) in LMWH use in medicine service is 2.3% (− 1.91%, 6.56%) compared to the other services p = 0.281. Future studies are needed to reassess the effects of continued education and outcome of interventions.