Venous thromboembolism awareness among medical students – intervention needed

Objectives
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is one of the most common causes of death associated with cardiovascular diseases. Despite the relatively high incidence rate, awareness and access to information about VTE risk factors as well as knowledge concerning effective prevention possibilities remain limited, including among health care professionals. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and awareness concerning venous thromboembolism among students of the Medical University of Silesia.

Material and methods
The study was performed on a group of 400 medical students from the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice from years 3 to 6, recruiting 100 people from each of the clinical years. The study was conducted based on a survey which included 27 questions concerning knowledge of the definition of venous thromboembolism, pathogenesis, epidemiology, risk factors, symptoms and diagnostics related to this group of patients.

Results
The proper definition of venous thromboembolism was indicated by 60% of the respondents and the proper components of Virchow’s triad, which underlies the pathogenesis of deep vein thrombosis, were defined by 69%. The further question answers revealed that although the study programme includes venous thromboembolism, the knowledge of the students in the field of epidemiology, symptomatology and risk factors of this affliction is still limited.

Conclusions
According to the results of the study, it is advisable to take action, including educative effort, to increase the awareness of the future medical staff about problems related to VTE.