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Purpose: To review the incidence of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) complications at Royal North Shore Hospital comparing medical and surgical specialties. To assess compliance to VTE prophylaxis and review the incidence of VTE complications when guidelines are adhered to. To identify strategies which would improve surgical and medical compliance to VTE guidelines. Methodology: A review of the medical records of all patients diagnosed with PE or DVT over a 12 month period was undertaken. A ward survey of current in patients was conducted to determine compliance to guidelines in both surgical and medical patients. Results: Both surgical specialties and medical specialties were reviewed. Surgical specialties complied with the guidelines more often than medical specialties. Surgical patients were broken down into specialties and reviewed as elective admissions and emergency admissions. DVT complications occurred more often than PEs. The ward survey confirmed surgical specialties complied more often with VTE prophylaxis than medical specialties. Conclusion: VTE is a costly complication to both the patient and the hospital during hospital admission, which is potentially preventable when adequate assessment and prophylaxis is undertaken. RNSH has recently reviewed and implemented guidelines for VTE prophylaxis in accordance with current research. This paper indicates that surgical specialties are complying with guidelines more often than medical specialties but there is still room for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]