Response to Re: Are the national orthopaedic thromboprophylaxis guidelines appropriate?

We thank Dr Owen for his letter. The title of our article indicates agreement with the broad issues raised by Dr Owen, that is thromboprophylaxis prescribing guidelines are potentially grounded on inappropriate evidence.With regard to our methodology, as noted in our article, we originally approached the Australian Orthopaedic Association with our survey; however, we were advised to seek assistance from the Arthroplasty Society of Australia to distribute the survey to its members (n = 103). The response rate (24%) was acknowledged as being less than ideal. Consequently, we implemented a number of strategies to increase this in a similar survey which we conducted in mid-2012 (49% response rate, n = 449). The results of this recent survey maintain that routine thromboprophylaxis prescribing preferences post-arthroplasty differ markedly between orthopaedic surgeons, which are not explained in the content of Dr Owen’s letter, and that reported familiarity with contemporary guidelines is variable.