Team Work Prevents VAP

The Problem

Ventilator associated pneumonia are infections that occur in ventilator tubes and account for 15 percent of health care-acquired infections, according to the CDC. Many of these infections can be prevented with certain quality improvements in patient care including oral hygiene, ventilator tubing changes and bundle development. In 1995, the San Antonio Community Hospital identified VAP as an area of improvement and created an infection prevention committee to spearhead a reduction plan.

The Solution

The infection prevention committee identified VAP as its most pressing need in the area of infection control after monitoring its VAP rates and discovering it was higher than the CDC benchmark of 1.6 infections per 1000 ventilator days. The committee laid out a detailed plan beginning with reviewing and analyzing current VAP prevention strategies and implementing three key strategies:

1. oral hygiene;
2. ventilator tubing changes; and
3. bundle development that focused on increased evaluation of head of bead and peptic ulcer/DVT prophylaxis.

Both the frontline critical care nursing and respiratory therapy staff were involved in the VAP reduction implementation from the beginning. The solution also includes continuous training of the staff, as well as training for new employees.