Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (Vap): the Key to Prevention Essay

Critically ill patients that require mechanical ventilation are at risk of developing secondary infections that may increase length of stay and possibly even morbidity. This fragile patient population requires special attention and meticulous adherence to established nursing standards of care. These standards of care are founded on evidenced based practices. It is important that nurses receive education about why these standards are in place and what consequences can result due to not following the established care protocols.

The morbidity and mortality of VAP is increasingly high, mortality rates ranges from 20% to 41%. The risk of development of VAP increases days of ventilation by 4 days, critical care by 4 days and lengths of hospital stay by 9 days, respectively and these factors adds to additional costs per VAP case.16

The prevention of VAP through standardized care can reduce mortality rates, reduce mechanical ventilation days, and decrease costs and improve patient outcome.

ICU patients suffer from a broad range of pathologies, requiring MV, sedation and use of multiples devices, which do not allow patients to protect their airway (Augustyn. 2007; Kollef. 2004).

Another important intervention was to maintain the head of the bed at 30-45 degrees and position L.M.’s left lung into a dependent position to improve ventilation and perfusion. L.M.’s O2 was decreased to 63 and her CO2 was increased to 50. According to the IHI, it is recommended to elevate the bed to 30- 45 degrees to improve ventilation. Patients that lay in the supine position have lower spontaneous tidal volumes on pressure support ventilation compared to those laying at more of an angle (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2012). In regards to positioning, when the least damaged portion of the lung is placed in a dependent position it receives preferential blood flow. This redistribution of blood flow helps match ventilation and perfusion, therefore, improving gas exchange (Lough, Stacy & Urden, 2010). Implementing these interventions combined with respiratory therapy, significantly improved the blood gas values for oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.

To encourage physicians, ICU nurses, and respiratory therapist to use the ventilator associated pneumonia bundle in all ventilated patients in an intensive care unit.

Ventilator - associated pneumonia (VAP) is the second most common hospital acquired infection (HAI) and is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates for ventilated patients in intensive care units (Bingham, Ashley, Jong, & Swift, 2010). The VAP increases patients’ mortality rates, length of stay and hospital costs (Hiner, Kasuya, Cottingham, & Whitney, 2010). The VAP is the leading causes of death due to nosocomial infections and the

Endotracheal tubes containing a tapered cuff have recently been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration and, based on the findings from in vitro and in vivo studies, are believed to achieve a better tracheal seal (Bowton et al., 2013). This enhanced fit is suggested to reduce the passage of potentially contaminated secretions around the cuff and into the distal airway of mechanically ventilated patients, thereby decreasing the development of VAP. In a study executed by Bowton et al. (2013), researchers examined whether these tapered endotracheal tubes would be more effective in reducing actual rates of VAP. Their study utilized a two-period observational approach in which each study period took place over six of the same calendar months so as to eliminate potential variations in season related to VAP. All adults over the age of 18 who were admitted into a variety of specialized ICUs, whose VAP rates closely resembled the average of all ICUs in the United States, were included in the study. During the first six month period, all endotracheal tubes utilized by the facility contained the standard, barrel-shaped cuff. Following this period, an audit was performed to ensure that all of these tubes were removed and, subsequently, they were replaced with tapered-cuff endotracheal tubes. Additionally, all emergency medical

38. American Journal of Respiratory care and critical care Medicine, Volume 175, issue 7, pages 698 – 704

Karen Meunier, is the education consult for New Orleans’s Childrens Hospital Ventilator Assisted Care Program (VACP). Mrs. Meunier educated the audience on the history of ventilators. Next, Mrs. Meunier stated the criteria for the children who are enrolled in the Ventilator Assisted Care Program. Overall, these children either have a neuromuscular, brain and/or spinal cord injury, and/or birth related diagnosis. The children in the program live at home in Louisiana, under the age of 26, Medicaid eligible, and require daily mechanical support of respiratory efforts. Lastly, Mrs. Meunier informs the audience about each member in the VACP staff. The VACP staff includes an education consultant, respiratory therapist trainer, two case managers,

During the surveillance, data from nursing documentation, physician progress notes, laboratory results, and direct observations. Data was collected from the time of admission until the diagnosis of VAP was made. The patients who were discharged from the ICU and sent to a regular medical surgical floor were followed for an additional 48 to ensure that VAP would be detected that manifested after the discharge.

The authors of Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine state that “Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), a subset of HAP that occurs in mechanically ventilated patients more than 48 h after tracheal intubation” The type of ventilator that is needed to treat patients is called a mechanical ventilator. For these ventilators, a tube has to be inserted down the person’s throat thus causing more bacterial to get inside the patient’s body. Conclusion While most may think that hospitals are an environment for patients to return to their healthy state, hospitals can also be an environment where it deters them from healing. Hospital-acquired illnesses kill many each year and is due to reason of neglect or misuse of equipment.

What is the best evidence based nursing practice in attempting to reduce (VAP) ventilated associated pneumonia? I decided to do an evidence based paper on VAP after talking to respiratory therapy on the sixth floor of Chippenham hospital during my clinical studies. I have a friend who has spent many years as a RN in the critical care unit and has seen the effects of different methods in reducing VAP first hand. This is a nursing intervention and the sole responsibility of the nurse. I can’t think of a better topic to research considering I am in my first semester of nursing school. I am very excited to share what I have found. I have found a large amount of information on different methods to reduce VAP but have decided on three to

Clinical problem: Oral care and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is extremely important in all healthcare organizations and has gained increased attention. For this reason, oral care has been introduced in many hospital settings. However, there is not enough evidence on critically ill patients concerning the effect of oral care interventions on the development of VAP. In order to evaluate the effect of oral care on VAP for hospitalized patients, additional studies are required.

Combinations of various criteria to establish a diagnosis in patients with VAP have been suggested and validated (Table 1). The National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) system was developed in the 1970s by the Centers for Disease Control as a tool to describe the epidemiology of hospital-acquired infections and to produce aggregated rates of infection suitable for inter-hospital comparison, but was never compared to pathological results. The NNIS system was compared to bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid cultures in 292 trauma patients and had a sensitivity of 84% and a specificity of 69% [15]. More recently, the Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS) was proposed by Pugin et al. [16], based on six variables (fever, leukocytosis, tracheal aspirates, oxygenation, radiographic infiltrates, and semi-quantitative cultures of tracheal aspirates with Gram stain) [16]. The original description showed a sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 100%, but this study included only 28 patients and the CPIS was compared to quantitative culture of BAL fluid using a 'bacterial index ' defined as the sum of the logarithm of all bacterial species recovered, which is not considered an acceptable gold standard for the diagnosis of VAP. Compared to pathological diagnosis, CPIS had a moderate performance with a sensitivity between 72 and 77% and specificity between 42 and 85% [11,17]. Likewise, CPIS was not sufficiently accurate compared to a BAL fluid-established