Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia
Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia refers to a form of pneumonia that is nosocomial, and it occurs in patients who are receiving mechanical interventions in more than 48 hours. Risk factors associated with Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia may be as a result of host related issues such as level of consciousness, number of intubations, preexisting conditions, and medications being administered. There are device-related risk factors such as the ventilator circuit and the endotracheal tube. Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia being among the causes of mortality and morbidly, intervention measures have to be put in place. These intervention measures are known as ventilator Acquired pneumonia bundles. Healthcare professionals work tirelessly to contain the situation through implementation of the ventilator acquired pneumonia bundles.
Ventilator Acquired pneumonia bundles have five key components. The first component is elevating the head of the bed to forty-five degrees when possible otherwise, the elevation of the bed should be maintained at more than thirty degrees. Another prevention measure is carrying out oral care consistently and decontamination using chlorhexidine regularly. The third cautionary measure is initiating safe enteral nutrition, especially within the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours of admission in the Intensive care unit. Another prevention measure stipulated in the ventilator acquired pneumonia bundles is the evaluation of the readiness of daily removal of the tubes inserted in the patient. Another rule is that healthcare professionals should use endotracheal tubes with subglottic secretion drainage. For children, performing oral care, elevating the head of the bed, and proper positioning of the oral and gastric tubes is crucial (“Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP),” 2019). Ventilator Acquired pneumonia bundles require a lot of will and effort of the healthcare professionals.
Ventilator acquired pneumonia bundles may affect healthcare professionals in several ways in the course of executing their duties. These precautionary measures help healthcare professionals become more cautious and vigilant. The preventive measures are involving, and consistency is required. Healthcare professionals, therefore, form a habit of consistently checking on their patients to make sure they are alright. By taking care of the patients, family, and friends of the patients will appreciate work well done, and this will make families cooperate with the professionals when the need arises. When ventilator acquired pneumonia bundles are adhered to, healthcare professionals will experience reduced cases of ventilator acquired pneumonia. It is the joy of every healthcare professional treating a patient and the patient recovers fully without acquiring infections while still in the hospital. Reduces cases of infections will give healthcare professionals morale to take care of their patients, and this will lead to increased job satisfaction. Ventilator acquired pneumonia bundles also fosters unity in the workplace. Different healthcare professionals in various departments such as nurses and doctors work together in preventing the occurrence of ventilator acquired pneumonia. Consistent and regular interactions help healthcare professionals bond with each other, and this creates a pleasant working environment. Ventilator acquired pneumonia bundles is not only beneficial to the patients but also beneficial in the practice of healthcare professionals.
Families whose kin is admitted in the intensive care unit go through emotional suffering. The families serve as a surrogate of the patients since patients admitted in the intensive care unit can barely speak (Fox, 2014). Families, therefore, need to be educated and informed about any eventualities that may occur, including ventilator acquired pneumonia. In teaching the patient’s family about ventilator acquired pneumonia, communication skills must be employed. I would first start by asking them what they understand about ventilator acquired pneumonia. Asking what they know about the disease will enable me to know exactly where they have the right knowledge and where they have misleading information about the condition, and this serves as a starting point in explaining the facts about the disease. Emotional support is also essential while educating the families about ventilator acquired pneumonia. Emotional support helps in reducing the fears of the families, and it gives them hope that their loved one will recover. Involving the family in the treatment plans is another strategy that should be employed when sensitizing families of patients who are in the intensive care unit. When family members are involved in treatment plans, they become confident with the way healthcare professionals are handling their patient. Being involved will also help families learn more about the disease. Healthcare professionals should make use of technology, determine the learning understanding of the patient’s family, and stimulate their interests to succeed in educating the patient’s family about ventilator acquired pneumonia.
Numerous challenges and barriers are encountered in adopting prevention strategies for ventilator acquired pneumonia. The challenges fall into three categories; healthcare worker’s limited professional competence, unfavorable environmental conditions, and passive human resource management (Atashi, Yousefi, Mahjobipoor, & Yazdannik, 2018). Under healthcare worker’s’ limited professional competence, some nurses may not have a positive attitude towards the VAP bundle and take things such as oral care for granted since they believe that poor oral care cannot cause death. Some health care professionals also lack professional knowledge as to why things are supposed to be done as stipulated in the VAP bundle. As a result of the lack of know-how behind the bundle, several aspects, for example, hand hygiene is ignored. Lack of professional accountability may also hinder the implementation of the VAP bundle. When no one is in charge of overseeing how things are done, some workers may take advantage of the situation and become lazy at work. Low job motivation can also hinder adoption of VAP bundles. Unfavorable working conditions include heavy workload, staff shortage, inappropriate equipment, and substandard structures. Human resource management issues include staff not being trained and lack of supervision. The challenges need to be addressed for the effectiveness of the Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia bundle.
One way of addressing the challenges is proper training of healthcare professionals. When they are equipped with the knowledge, they can handle patients as they should be. Hospital management should provide the hospital with adequate and efficient equipment to facilitate the adoption of the ventilator acquired pneumonia bundles. Healthcare works should be motivated, and this makes them loyal to their work. The hospital management should also invest in human resources such that workers are not overburdened and are supervised accordingly.
Ventilator acquired pneumonia is emotionally and financially draining. Patients should be taken care of appropriately, and preventive measures to be followed to reduce cases of infections acquired when one is still in the hospital. Healthcare professionals should implement care bundles and educate families about infections. Challenges should also be addressed to ensure smooth implementation of the VAP bundles. VAP bundles are effective when adhered to. Therefore every person should embrace them.
References
Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP). (2019). Retrieved from https://www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca/en/Topic/Pages/Ventilator-Associated-Pneumonia-(VAP).aspx
Atashi, V., Yousefi, H., Mahjobipoor, H., & Yazdannik, A. (2018). The barriers to the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia from the perspective of critical care nurses: A qualitative descriptive study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(5–6), e1161–e1170. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14216
Fox, M. Y. (2014). Improving Communication With Patients and Families in the Intensive Care Unit: Palliative Care Strategies for the Intensive Care Unit Nurse. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 16(2), 93. https://doi.org/10.1097/NJH.0000000000000026