Document Type
Honors
Department
Nursing
Rights Management
Rhode Island College
Abstract
This paper investigates the problem of public awareness of venous thromboembolism (VTE) from a nursing perspective. VTE encompasses deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). It is a major public health problem as 600,000 people suffer from VTE annually and 100,000 deaths are attributed to it. The aim of this research study was to investigate and attempt to quantify the general public’s knowledge level of VTE. The research study included a survey in which 325 people participated. Of the 242 participants who identified themselves occupationally as nonmedical, less than 30% were familiar with both DVT and PE. Participants who identified as having medical careers had much higher levels of knowledge. The findings suggest the need for health professionals to educate patients and the public about VTE in order to decrease its incidence. A website (www.dvtaware.net) and public education campaign employing social media tools were launched to increase awareness of VTE.
Recommended Citation
Lavall, Kathryn A., "Increasing Public Awareness of Venous Thromboembolism Through Social Media" (2014). Honors Projects. 89.
https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/honors_projects/89
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.