title: Impact of oral hygiene on prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia in neuroscience patients.
abstract: Ventilator-associated pneumonia is one of the most frequent complications among critically ill patients. Growth of pathogenic bacteria in dental plaque may serve as the source of these infections. This performance improvement initiative evaluated an aggressive oral care approach to prevent the accumulation of plaque containing bacteria. Our data support the use of these oral care measures and deep oral-pharyngeal suctioning for the prevention of aspiration of oral contents.
authors.affiliation: Critical Care and Neuroscience, Methodist Hospital, Clarian Health Partners, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. jpowers@clarian.org
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Powers
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brower
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tolliver
mesh_terms: D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods*; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007196:Indiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications; D009488:Neurosciences; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D053717:Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D013396:Suction / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration