title: Decreasing ventilator-associated pneumonia in the intensive care unit: a sustainable comprehensive quality improvement program.
abstract: An intensive care unit implemented an oral care bundle to decrease ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). A retrospective analysis comparing like time periods revealed the VAP rate per 1,000 ventilator-days dropped significantly from 10.5 to 0 (P = .016). The oral care bundle remains in place as of end of May 2011 and has proven to be a sustainable method for VAP prevention.
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Holland Hospital, Holland, MI 49423, USA. karahe@hollandhospital.org
authors.forename: Kara
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Heck
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000379:methods*; D053717:Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012189:Retrospective Studies