ventilator-associated pneumonia is as the name suggests a type of pneumonia that is
acquired while a patient is on the mechanical ventilator we created this video to cover the
medical definition and provide a brief overview of this topic so if you're ready let's get into it
pneumonia is an infection that causes inflammation in the lungs and results in fluid buildup fever
cough and difficulty breathing it's caused by a variety of different organisms including viruses
bacteria fungi and even parasites in some cases when this disease is contracted while
our patient is receiving mechanical ventilation as previously mentioned it is referred to as
ventilator associated pneumonia the other types of pneumonia include community acquired hospital
acquired and aspiration pneumonia as you may have guessed the specific type of pneumonia is
classified according to how the patient acquires the disease community acquired pneumonium is
when the patient gets it outside of the hospital hospital-acquired pneumonia is when the patient
gets it inside of the hospital however is not related to mechanical ventilation and aspiration
pneumonia is acquired when a patient aspirates bacteria into the lungs usually from food
saliva or stomach acid but for this video we're focusing more on ventilator-associated pneumonia
for it to classify as this type the patient must acquire the infection more than 48 hours
after being intubated and placed on the ventilator this is how we can differentiate it from hospital
acquired pneumonia because intubation and mechanical ventilation are involved
switching gears just a bit you should also know that a pneumonia infection can vary from mild
to severe depending on the patient's signs and symptoms some examples to look for include a
productive cough fever and chills tachypnea shortness of breath chest pain diaphoresis
fatigue and cyanosis being able to recognize the signs and symptoms is important for the diagnosis
treatment and patient outcome according to the cdc around 2 million people in the united states
acquire nosocomial infections each year which leads to approximately 20 000 deaths unfortunately
ventilator associated pneumonia is the second most prevalent type of nosocomial infection
but attributes to the most mortalities with that said about one-third of all ventilator-associated
pneumonia cases could be prevented by using the following strategies first we should
use non-invasive positive pressure ventilation whenever possible as this significantly decreases
the chances of ventilator-associated pneumonia as opposed to intubation and mechanical ventilation
we should also use daily weaning trials to assess the patient's respiratory muscle strength and
ability to be removed from the ventilator the risk of vap is associated with the length of time on
the machine so naturally if you can decrease the amount of time you will decrease the chances of
this type of pneumonia the next vowel prevention strategy is to elevate the head position of the
bed this has been shown to reduce the chances of gastric aspiration which is one of the common
causes of ventilator-associated pneumonia you can strive to keep the head of the bed elevated to
45 degrees you should also be sure to use proper hand hygiene this should go without saying
however you should always wash your hands with soap and water upon entering the patient's room
and then again once you leave the room improper hand washing is the leading cause of nosocomial
infections that can easily be avoided the next strategy is to practice oral decontamination
on the patient by performing mouth care regularly cleaning out the bacteria in the
mouth can significantly decrease the chances of ventilator associated pneumonia and finally
don't break the circuit of the ventilator keeping the circuit closed as much as possible
has been shown to decrease the chances of the patient obtaining ventilator-associated pneumonia
this means that you should change the circuit only when it is visibly soiled and again proper hand
washing ppe and other safety measures should be performed as well in order to prevent vap
and other nosocomial infections switching gears just a bit now let's talk about the treatment
pneumonia in general should be treated on a case-by-case basis however some of the most common
treatment methods include antibiotic medications oxygen therapy bed rest airway clearance therapy
hyperinflation therapy and fluid management each patient may require different treatment modalities
depending on their signs and symptoms again for this video we just wanted to provide you with
a brief overview of this topic we'll be breaking it down into much more detail in a separate video
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just a quick reminder we are not doctors this video is for
educational and informational purposes only and if you want to dive deeper and
learn more about this topic you can go to respiratorytherapyzone.com where we
have a ton of free study guides practice questions and other helpful resources
i'll drop links to everything you need right below this video down in the description thank you so
much for watching all the way to the end have a blessed day and as always real easy my friend
you