VTE Guidelines: Prophylaxis for Medical Patients
In October 2022, these guidelines were reviewed by an expert work group convened by ASH. Review included limited searches for new evidence and discussion of the search results. Following this review, the ASH Committee on Quality agreed to continue monitoring the supporting evidence rather than revise or retire these guidelines at this time. Limited searches and expert review will be repeated annually going forward until these guidelines are revised or retired.
Medical inpatients, long-term care residents, persons with minor injuries, and long-distance travelers are at increased risk of VTE, which can be fatal. Hospitalization for acute medical illness is an important opportunity for applying prevention efforts. These guidelines address methods to prevent VTE in hospitalized and non-hospitalized medical patients and long-distance travelers.
Access the full guidelines on the Blood Advances website:
Guideline Implementation Tools and Resources
ASH guidelines are reviewed annually by expert work groups convened by ASH. Resources derived from guidelines that require updating are removed from the ASH website.
This one-page snapshot provides a high-level summary of the guidelines on the types of interventions that should be used to prevent VTE in hospitalized and non-hospitalized medical patients. A snapshot of the full VTE guidelines is also available for download.
ASH Clinical Practice Guidelines App
The ASH Clinical Practice Guidelines App provides easy access to every recommendation from all guidelines published by ASH, including rationale for each recommendation, benefits and harms associated with each recommended course of action, and links to the complete evidence-to-decision tables used to develop the recommendations. This app is also available via web interface.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Pocket Guides
ASH has developed a series of brief, evidence-based pocket guides to help physicians provide quality care to patients. The pocket guides are available via the ASH Pocket Guides App for IOS and Android devices. This app is also available via web interface.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Teaching Slides
Help your colleagues diagnose, manage, and treat VTE with the following teaching slides designed for easy dissemination:
- Prophylaxis for Medical Patients
Powerpoint | PDF
Patient Versions of the Guidelines
- Blood clots when you are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
- Preventing a blood clot
- Testing for blood clots
- Things to know if you are taking a blood thinner to prevent blood clots