Nosocomial and ventilator-associated pneumonia in a community hospital intensive care unit: a retrospective review and analysis.

Background: Nosocomial and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) are causes of significant morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. We analyzed a) the incidence and the outcome of pneumonias caused by different pathogens in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a medium-sized twenty-four bed community hospital and b) the incidence of complications of such pneumonias requiring surgical intervention such as thoracotomy and decortication.

Results: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients diagnosed with nosocomial and ventilator-associated pneumonia in our ICU.