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!