Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is a nosocomial infection that is acquired in critically ill patients 48 hours or more after intubation. Many interventions have been studied to reduce or prevent patients from acquiring VAP. This integrated literature review examines empirical evidence related to suctioning techniques that reduce or prevent the acquisition of VAP. Oral and subglottic secretion suctioning were examined in depth. It is concluded that the intervention of oral and subglottic secretion suctioning was shown to reduce the incidence of VAP in adult patients.

Patients who require mechanical ventilation (MV) are at risk for developing ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP). Nurses’ adherence to sedation vacations (SVs) has a direct impact on the development of VAP, because SVs have been shown to reduce patients’ average duration of MV and length of stay (LOS) in the intensive care unit (ICU). The purposes of this study guided by Donabedian’s (1966) model were to quantify nurses’ level of adherence to SVs, in relation to the health outcomes of critically ill patients, and identify the barriers and facilitators to performing SVs. A correlational design was used. The design included three components: abstraction of patient data from the electronic medical record (EMR) (n=79 with VAP and n=79 without VAP), administration of surveys to ICU nurses (N =34), and vignettes related to SVs. Analyses included descriptive statistics, t-tests, correlations, and analyses of covariance. Most nurses held a Bachelors degree (70.6%), had < 9 years of ICU experience (52.9%), worked in a medical ICU (47.1%), and reported high confidence in managing SVs (M =8.88, SD =1.25). The majority of patients (N =158) were Black (58.2%), males (56.3%), and on average middle-aged (M =61.5, SD =14.91), with a long ICU LOS (M =15.5, SD =11.84), extended duration of MV (M =9.5, SD =8.47), and high acuity (APACHE III) (M =70.2, SD =25.42). The nurses’ education, advanced certification, and ICU experience were not associated with the appropriate implementation of SVs in the vignettes. On average nurses’ had low scores on the vignettes (M =6.97, SD =2.21; possible range =0-14). The adherence rate of nurses’ implementation of SVs, determined using EMR data, was also low (M =24%; SD =23%). There were higher rates of SV adherence in patients without VAP (p (p < .01), and a duration of MV < 6 days (p =.04). These findings indicate that even with established protocols, nurses may not consistently implement the evidenced-based interventions that have been shown to prevent nosocomial infections. Future research is needed to improve nursing practice and the quality of care in this patient population.

Bakgrund: Ventilatorassocierad pneumoni, VAP, är en vårdrelaterad infektion inom intensivvården som ökar mortaliteten och vårdkostnaden. För att förebygga VAP finns olika åtgärder som beskrivs i kliniska riktlinjer. Dessa finns som stöd för hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal för att öka patientsäkerheten. I dagsläget finns inga nationella eller internationella VAP-förebyggande riktlinjer. Syfte: Syftet är att kvalitetsgranska och jämföra svenska intensivvårdsavdelningars lokala kliniska riktlinjer gällande VAP-förebyggande åtgärder för vuxna. Metod: Kvantitativ deskriptiv studie. De lokala kliniska riktlinjerna kvalitetsgranskades med hjälp av kvalitétbedömningsinstrumentet AGREE II.  Resultat: Totalt kvalitetsgranskades och jämfördes 34% (n=27) av Sveriges intensivvårdsavdelningars lokala kliniska riktlinjer gällande VAP-förebyggande åtgärder. Alla granskade lokala kliniska riktlinjerna var av låg kvalité. Den låga kvalitén var bland annat orsakad av låg noggrannhet vid framställningen av riktlinjen [md=5] och lågt redaktionellt oberoendet [md=0]. I jämförelsen av VAP-förebyggande åtgärderna beskrev 93–100% (n=25–27) av riktlinjerna möjlighet till subglottisaspiration, kufftryck mellan 25–30 cmH2O, höjd huvudända eller tippning till 30–45 grader och skriftliga rutiner.  Slutsats: Sveriges intensivvårdsavdelningars granskade lokala kliniska riktlinjer gällande förebyggande av ventilatorassocierad pneumoni, VAP, var av låg kvalité. De innehåller en stor variation av VAP-förebyggande åtgärder, som i vissa fall var motsägande.  Det finns behov av en uppdaterad och evidensbaserade nationell eller internationell klinisk riktlinje gällande förebyggande av VAP. Detta för att säkra patientsäkerheten på Sveriges intensivvårdsavdelningar. / Background: Ventilator associated-pneumonia, VAP is a hospital acquired-infection that increases the mortality and the healthcare cost in the intensive care. There are different methods to prevent VAP. These methods are described in clinical guidelines. These guidelines are there to support healthcare professionals and to increase patient safety. There exist no national or international clinical guidelines for VAP-preventions. Aim: The aim is to quality appraise and compare Swedish intensive care units´ local clinical guidelines of VAP-prevention for adults.  Method: A quantitative descriptive study. The local clinical guidelines were appraised with the qualitative appraisal instrument AGREE-II.  Main result: In total 34% (n=27) of the Swedish intensive care units clinical guidelines for VAP-preventions were quality appraised and compared. All reviewed local clinical guidelines were of low quality. The low quality was caused by low accuracy in the preparation of the guideline [md=5] and low editorial independence [md=0]. In the comparison of VAP-preventions 93–100% (n=25–27) of the clinical guidelines described the possibility of subglottic aspiration, cuff-pressure between 25–35 cmH20, elevated head of the bed to 30–45 degrees and written guidelines.  Conclusion: The local Swedish intensive care units reviewed clinical guidelines for prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia, VAP had low quality.  They included a large variation of different VAP-preventions, and some of the preventions were contradictory. There is a need for an updated and evidence based national or international clinical guideline to prevent VAP. There is a need to ensure the patient safety in Sweden's intensive care units.