Combination of ventilator care bundle and regular oral care with chlorhexidine was associated with reduction in ventilator associated pneumonia

BackgroundVentilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is an important source of morbidity and mortality in patients receiving mechanical ventilation. VAP is associated with prolongation of mechanical ventilation, ICU and hospital stay and increases in costs.MethodsQuality improvement project. Mechanically ventilated patients received oral care every 8 h with chlorhexidine 2%. A formal process was developed to evaluate compliance with the following ventilator bundle initiatives: head of the bed elevation to 30–45°, daily sedation vacation and assess the readiness to extubate, providing peptic ulcer disease prophylaxis and providing deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis (unless contraindicated).ResultsThe rate of VAP before starting the project, in the first 6 months of year 1431H, was 16.2 cases/1000 ventilator days. Six month after inception of the quality improvement project, the VAP rates decreased to 5.6 cases/1000 ventilator days at the end of 1431H, and at the end of 1432H, it was 5.5 cases/1000 ventilator days. This leads to significant reduction in mortality (adjusted according to APACHE II) from 23.4% to 19.1% (p value 0.024) and the length of stay in ICU from 9.7 to 6.5 days (p value 0.00002).ConclusionThe combination of regular oral hygiene with chlorhexidine 2% and rigorous implementation of ventilator care bundle was associated with significant reduction in VAP rate in mechanically ventilated patients. This has led to reduction in length of stay in ICU from 9.7 to 6.5 days and reduction in mortality from 23.4% to 19.1%.