Efficacy of ventilator-associated pneumonia care bundle for prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia in the surgical intensive care units of a medical center

Background Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most serious treatment-related infections resulting in high mortalities and costs. Our hospital has implemented bundle care in the intensive care units (ICUs) with special focus on VAP prevention. This is a retrospective study to evaluate its efficacy. Methods We implemented a six-item VAP care bundle modified from that of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement at five surgical ICUs (SICUs) in the National Taiwan University Hospital. A multidisciplinary teamwork was involved in this bundle care. This study analyses the SICU utilization, ventilator utilization, and VAP incidence between January 2006 and March 2013 to assess the impact of VAP bundle in a clinical setting. Results A total of 28,454 SICU patients were analyzed in this study and patients under the age of 18 were excluded ( n = 1329); eventually, 27,125 patients were enrolled, with 12,913 patients from the pre-VAP bundle phase and 14,212 from the post-VAP bundle phase. Patients from the post-VAP phase tended to be older ( p = 0.024) and with shorter SICU stay ( p = 0.006), and disease severity scores (Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System, Glasgow Coma Scale, and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score) were lower in the post-VAP bundle phase ( p