Investigating patient outcomes and healthcare costs associated with ventilator-associated pneumonia
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Investigating patient outcomes and healthcare costs associated with ventilator-associated pneumonia

Rawan Abu Fadda Instructor, Al Mouwasat Hospital, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Muayyad Ahmad Professor, School of Nursing, clinical nursing, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

Why you should read this article:
  • To understand the relationship between ventilator-associated pneumonia and patient outcomes, such as length of stay, on mechanical ventilation in intensive care units (ICUs)

  • To enhance your awareness of the importance of ventilator-associated pneumonia guidelines in ICUs

  • To familiarise yourself with the importance of infection prevention procedures in ICUs

Background Ventilator-associated pneumonia is the most frequent infection seen in intensive care units. Of those patients with an endotracheal tube, many will develop ventilator-associated pneumonia within 48 hours of being mechanically ventilated. There are many issues related to mechanical ventilation including costs, patient outcomes and the amount of suffering patients experience during the process.

Aim To determine the relationship between development of ventilator-associated pneumonia and patient outcomes and costs, including length of stay on mechanical ventilation, in intensive care units (ICU) and in hospital, and mortality rates and to compare results between ventilator-associated pneumonia and non-ventilator-associated pneumonia groups.

Method Cross-sectional, observational design. A convenience sample of 151 patients on mechanical ventilation (101 with ventilator-associated pneumonia and 50 with non-ventilator-associated pneumonia) were recruited from ICUs in two public hospitals in Jordan. APACHE-II scores, SOFA scores and clinical pulmonary infection scores (CPIS) were assessed.

Results The incidence rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was 50.9/1000 mechanical ventilation days and the cumulative incidence rate was 66.9% among patients on mechanical ventilation. The mean score of hospital length of stay and CPIS was significantly higher in the ventilator-associated pneumonia than the non-ventilator-associated pneumonia group. Higher disease severity and higher organ failure scores increase the risk of mortality in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Conclusion A high ventilator-associated pneumonia incidence rate is associated with increased mechanical ventilation, ICU and hospital length of stays, higher mortality and attributed costs. There is a need for continuing education and training for ICU staff to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia incidence in ICUs.

Nursing Management. doi: 10.7748/nm.2021.e1986

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

mma4@ju.edu.jo

Conflict of interest

None declared

Fadda RA, Ahmad M (2021) Investigating patient outcomes and healthcare costs associated with ventilator-associated pneumonia. Nursing Management. doi: 10.7748/nm.2021.e1986

Published online: 26 October 2021

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