Prevention of Ventilator associated Pneumonia

- Introduction

Hospitalized patients are at high risk for pneumonia and other pulmonary complications, particularly patients on mechanical ventilation. Hospital-acquired pneumonia is one of the most common nosocomial infections.

Ventilator bundle components potentially associated with lower mortality rates include staff education, performance feed-back, and in adults, elevating the head of the bed, minimizing sedation, and assessing readiness for extubation. Additional promising strategies include conservative fluid management, low tidal volume ventilation, and early mobility.