The impact of a ventilator bundle on preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia: a multicenter study.

Background: For prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), a bundle approach was applied to patients receiving mechanical ventilation in intensive care units. The incidence of VAP and the preventive efficacy of the VAP bundle were investigated.

Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted in adult intensive care units of 6 university hospitals with similar VAP rates. We implemented the VAP bundle between March 2011 and June 2011, then compared the rate of VAP after implementation of the VAP bundle with the rate in the previous 8 months. Our ventilator bundle included head of bed elevation, peptic ulcer disease prophylaxis, deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis, and oral decontamination with chlorhexidine 0.12%. Continuous aspiration of subglottic secretions was an option.

Results: Implementation of the VAP bundle reduced the VAP rate from a mean of 4.08 cases per 1,000 ventilator-days to 1.16 cases per 1,000 ventilator-days. The incidence density ratio (rate) was 0.28 (95% confidence interval, 0.275-0.292).

Conclusions: Implementing the appropriate VAP bundle significantly decreased the incidence of VAP in patients with mechanical ventilation.