ABSRACT

Background: Deep vein thrombosis is a preventable and treatable cause of death among

hospitalized patients. Health professionals play a major role on deep vein thrombosis prevention practice in improving prevention care. But there have been few studies on heath professionals’ deep vein thrombosis prevention practice in Ethiopia that have revealed a low level.

Objective: To assess level of heath professionals’ practice and perceived barriers to deep vein thrombosis prevention in Hawassa city public hospital, Ethiopia 2025.

Methods and Materials: An institutional-based mixed study design conducted from January to March 2025. For the quantitative study all health care professional working in selected unit

included, 245 participants. Observational checklist adapted from National Institution for Health

and Care Excellence guideline and different literature. Data was entered in Epi-Data version 3.1 software and exported to SPSS version 26.0. For analyses, bivariate and multivariate methods were used. For the qualitative study, eight participants who had work experience of at least six months in patient care were selected by using purposive sampling and semi-structured interview questions conducted in Amharic. Finally triangulated with quantitative data.

Result: A total of 245 participants were involved in this study. The result showed that 40.8%,

with a 95% CI (34.6, 47.3) had good practice about deep vein thrombosis prevention. Age between 26 and 30 years [AOR=0.31; 95% CI (0.10,0.99)], work experience ≤ 5years[AOR=0.16; 95% CI (0.05,0.51)], not having training [AOR=0.09; 95% CI (0.03,0.33)], health care professional who had poor knowledge [AOR= 0.30; 95% CI (0.13,0.70)], and health care professional who had a negative attitude [AOR=0.09; 95%CI (0.03, 0.28)] were significantly associated with deep vein thrombosis prevention practice. In the qualitative study, lack of training, lack of knowledge, work load, absence of supervision, and patient refusal are some barriers

Conclusion: This study reveals that more than half of the participant’s had poor practice in deep vein thrombosis prevention. Work experience, lack of training, poor knowledge, and a negative attitude are factors that affect prevention practice. Absence of guidelines, work load, absence of supervision and patient refusal are perceived barriers. So, we recommend that to improve the quality of care, it requires a continuous education program and routine supervision.

Keywords: Deep vein thrombosis, Prevention, practice, Factors, Barriers.

Hanadi Nassir (Md)