A search strategy was developed and performed by a librarian to identify literature published between May 1, 2003 and May, 2014 addressing mobilization and anticoagulation therapy to prevent and treat VTE. Searches were performed in the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Controlled vocabularies, such as MeSH and CINAHL Headings, were used whenever possible in addition to keywords. Results were limited to articles written in English (Refer to Figure 1). Using this search strategy, 350 out of 8,652 abstract/citations of relevance were obtained from Web of Science, CINAHL, PubMed, and Cochrane.
Clinical practice guidelines published between 2003 and 2014 were searched including the same key words and MESH terms using the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC www.guideline.gov/) database as well as TRIP (http://www.tripdatabase.com/). The NGC database identified 169 guidelines of which 40 were deemed as appropriate to be reviewed. Three additional guidelines were identified through Tripdatabase and the appropriate target populations were included.
