​Focus: anticoagulant safety, VTE prevention.

Background Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is one of the most important preventable causes of death in hospitalised patients. The role of the clinical pharmacist in Jordan is still at its beginnings in this field; this study explored the contribution of the clinical pharmacist to improving the frequency of appropriate VTE prophylaxis. Aim To evaluate the role of the clinical pharmacist in improving appropriate VTE prophylaxis in a tertiary hospital. Methods This study with a single-group pretest-post test design. Recommendations of the clinical pharmacist concerning VTE prophylaxis for a group of hospitalised patients with odd ID numbers were provided to physicians. The main outcome measure was the appropriateness of VTE prophylaxis; therapy was defined as appropriate when it was fully concordant with the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) guidelines. Appropriateness of VTE prophylaxis was measured before and after the provision of recommendations. Results The extent of concordance with the ACCP guidelines increased from 78.9% to 87.8%, with a statistically significant increase of 8.9% (p < 0.001). Conclusion Employment of a clinical pharmacist coincided with an improvement in the rate of appropriate VTE prophylaxis.