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Paycheck vs. Purchasing Power - Outpatient Surgery Magazine - January 2018

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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heparin, can cost up to $500 for 30-day preventative doses, but studies have shown that they can reduce the risk of VTE in higher risk patients. One such study, published in the Current Opinion on Pulmonary Medicine, found the risk of a fatal pulmonary embolism reduced by 62% in patients who underwent prophylaxis with low-dose anticoagulants. The same study found the risk for symptomatic DVT reduced by 53%. However, there's still some debate surrounding the use of anticoagu- lant prophylaxis, due largely to concerns about patient bleeding. While it's true that anticoagulants can lead to bleeding, no one dies from receiving preventative doses of anticoagulants. Risks of overtreatment On the other hand, beware of the risk of overtreating. Three-fourths of surgical patients might be receiving anti-clotting medications they don't need, according to research my colleagues and I published in the Annals of Surgery (osmag.net/UFjyF3). We concluded that the benefit of perioperative venous thromboembolism chemoprophylaxis was only found among surgical patients with Caprini scores ≥7. Precision medi- cine using individualized VTE risk stratification helps ensure that J A n U A R Y 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 6 7 AT RISK Compression stockings help prevent thrombosis in at-risk patients.

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