The British Thoracic Society Guideline for the outpatient management of pulmonary embolism provides guidance on how to risk stratify patients with suspected and confirmed pulmonary embolism and subsequently manage them in an outpatient or ambulatory care setting.
Given variation in practice there is a need for a standardised approach to identify low-risk patients for outpatient management and also to aid clinicians in deciding when moderate risk patients can be discharged early. The guideline also aims to reduce the risk to patients and hospital trusts while ensuring best value to the NHS.
The College welcomes the production of this guideline and believes it will be useful to clinicians. The recommendations in the guidance are pragmatic, sensible and err on the side of safety. The guidance will also help to standardise management for audit and research purposes.
