2013 Volume 28 Issue 5 Pages 267-272
A care bundle is used during tracheal intubation for the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). The care bundle involves many approaches to prevent infection, such as the correct positioning and adjusting of the endotracheal tube in order to prevent the passage of bacteria through the cuff and endotracheal tube, limiting the degree of sedation using the sedation scales in order to prevent oversedation, discontinuation of mechanical ventilation as soon as possible with aggressive weaning protocols, correct hand washing, use of sterile techniques for invasive procedures, and education and maintenance of clean environmental conditions for maintaining and improving conditions in the intensive care unit (ICU). Furthermore, the VAP prevention team, which includes nurses, pharmacists, doctors, and other experts, was launched to educate the staff working in the ICU on the use of this care bundle. Before starting our team activity in 2009, the VAP incidence per respirator use over 1,000 days was 15.19, but the incidence decreased to 7.09 (p<0.023) in 2010 and 7.13 (p<0.003) in 2011, respectively. The average days that the respirator was used was 7.55±9.48 days in 2009, 7.56±11.11 days (p>0.05) in 2010 and 4.99±7.69 days (p=0.009) in 2011, showing a significant decrease from 2009 to 2011. The introduction of the VAP preventive bundle was effective and successful in the ICU of our hospital; but further exercises and educational practices for VAP prevention must be continued in the future.
