Ventilator-associated pneumonia in patients treated in the intensive care unit

Abstract

Background. The patient hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) requires continuous and intensified care performed by the nursing team. It consists in providing comprehensive care, monitoring and support of vital functions, as well as a regular toilet in the bronchial tree. However, the increasing incidence of nosocomial infections in patients treated in ICUs is still observed. It is closely related to the use of highly specialized, often invasive methods, such as mechanical ventilation. One of the nosocomial infections associated with tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation is ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Objectives. The main aim of the study was to compare of the assessment of two methods of the bronchial tree toilet. The secondary aim is to improve the quality of nursing care in patients with VAP in the ICU based on the analysis of the obtained results. Material and methods. The study involved a group of 30 patients of the Clinical Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy at the 4th Military Clinical Hospital with the Polyclinic in Wroclaw. All patients required mechanical ventilation for at least 72 hours due to acute respiratory failure. The studied group of patients was divided according to the type of technique used to provide the toilet of the bronchial tree: group I (n = 13) – suction in the open system and group II (n = 17) – suction in a closed system. In all patients a bronchial swab was collected with the blind bronchial sampling (BBS) method and the obtained material was transferred to the microbiological diagnostic laboratory. In addition, patient demographics and the general state of the APACHE II scale were analyzed. Observation was terminated at the end of mechanical ventilation and extubation of the trachea or due to death of the patient. Results. Among the causes of respiratory failure in the examined group of patients, the state after sudden cardiac arrest was found (n = 10), multi-organ trauma (n = 8), craniocerebral trauma (n = 7) and others (n = 5). The average length of ICU stay in group I was 13 days, and in group II – 11 days. The number of microbiological tests performed in group I was 70, and in group II – 78. The negative microbiological test in group I was obtained by 2 out of 5 patients until the end of the study, and in group II it was 4 out of 6 patients. The most common type of microorganism for group I was Staphylococcus aureus positive on the day 0 (n = 4), 3 (n = 4), 6 (n = 4) and 9 (n = 3) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the day 12 (n = 2) . In turn, the most common type of microorganism for group II was Acinetobacter baumani positive at 0 (n = 5), 3 (n = 5), 6 (n = 5), 9 (n = 3) and 12 (n = 2). The studied group of patients did not differ significantly in terms of demographic data (mean age 36 years in group I and 42 in group II, sex distribution is 9 men and 4 women in group I and 9 men and 8 women in group II) and in the starting a clinical condition assessed on the APACHE II scale (score 20 points for group I and 21 points for group II). Conclusions. The use of a closed suction system allows the maintenance of sterility of the lower respiratory tract for the entire period (12 days) of ICU treatment with the use of a respirator, and the open system ensures sterile culture only until the 6th day of treatment. The knowledge of nursing staff in the care of mechanically ventilated patients is an important element of VAP prevention. The application of the method of collecting material from the lower respiratory tract in everyday practice is an element of properly conducted strategy of microbiological diagnostics with the involvement of nursing staff.