Prevention of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

First Things First (assess & treat for the following)

  • VAP = pneumonia that develops >48 hours after initiation/onset of intubation and mechanical ventilation
  • VAP is the leading cause of death amongst hospital-acquired infections, exceeding the rate of death due to central line infections, severe sepsis, and respiratory tract infections in the non-intubated patient (www.ihi.org).
  • Hospital-associated pneumonia (HAP) accounts for up to 25% of all ICU-associated infections and for >50% of the antibiotics administered in the unit.
  • VAP prolongs time spent on the ventilator, length of ICU stay, and length of hospital stay after discharge from the ICU (www.ihi.org).
  • VAP adds an estimated cost of $40,000 to a typical hospital admission (www.ihi.org).
  • Therefore, prevention of VAP is more efficacious than treatment!

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Last updated: May 5, 2010