Abstract: Objective: To investigate the preventive nursing care of venous thromboembolism among surgical nurses. Methods: A self-designed questionnaire was used to investigate 2 285 surgical nurses from 23 tertiary hospitals in different provinces and cities in 2017. Results: Surgical nurses were poorly trained in the nursing care of venous thromboembolism, and only 60.6% of them were trained on this topic. Those with the primary professional titles were the key training group. Totally 90.4% of the surgical surveyed nurses cared the patients in accordance with the standard procedures for the prevention of venous thromboembolism, a higher proportion of nurses in orthopedics and general surgical department followed the standard procedures compared with those in ICU, neurosurgery (P<0.0024). The risk assessment of surgical venous thromboembolism was not enough, and the use rate of the risk assessment form is only 83.2%. The rate of basic preventive measures for venous thromboembolism is low. Conclusion: The preventive nursing care of venous thromboembolism among surgical nurses needs further improvement. It is suggested to develop the prevention measure standards and procedures in different departments, and to establish the corresponding quality control standards to ensure the implementation of clinical work.

Key words: venous thromboembolism; deep vein thrombosis; precautions; surgical nurses