Ventilator Associated Pneumonias for ICU patients

Why is this important?

Ventilator-associated pneumonia for intensive care unit (ICU) patients is a common hospital-acquired bacteria.  Accurate diagnosis is difficult but critical for an optimal antibiotic treatment.  Patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia can have significantly longer stays in the ICU and hospital with higher costs and a greater mortality risk.

A ventilator is a device used to assist or to control the breathing of patients during surgery or when their medical condition requires it.  The patient is connected to the ventilator either by a tube in their windpipe (trachea) or through an opening in the throat (tracheostomy).  Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs caused by a bacteria, virus or fungus.  When pneumonia develops in a person who is on a ventilator, it is called a ventilator-associated pneumonia.  Pneumonia is a serious illness that can prolong hospitalization, increase the risk of significant additional illness and sometimes result in death.

How WellSpan Compares

The following shows the percentage of ICU patients who developed ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Unit of Measurement: Percentage

A lower score is better than a higher score.

York Hospital result added on 12/31/2008
Gettysburg Hospital result added on 07/01/2009

What we are doing to improve our performance.

One of the most important measures to prevent these infections is to only have the patient on a ventilator when it is absolutely necessary.  WellSpan patient care providers work with the patient and the patient’s family to discontinue the ventilator as soon as the patient is able to breathe well without it.   Other important measures to prevent these infections include good hand hygiene before cleaning out the tube that connects the patient to the ventilator (this is called suctioning), wearing sterile gloves for suctioning, cleaning the patient’s mouth frequently, keeping the head of the bed slightly elevated at all times, waking up the patient daily and using deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot that can form in your legs and sometimes move to your lungs, where it can be fatal) and peptic ulcer disease (PUD) protocols.